INDIANAPOLIS (WOWO): State police say the lapse of Patriot Act surveillance provisions has no direct impact on intelligence gathering at the state level.
The Patriot Act clarified and expanded rules for federal eavesdropping, not state and local departments.
State Police do operate a “fusion center” which receives and coordinates intel from all levels, including federal, but spokesman Dave Bursten says it‘s not clear how the lapse of the Patriot Act affects that. Even if there were, he says it likely couldn‘t be disclosed publicly.
Congress is expected to pass a bill ending the surveillance outage before the week is out. Bursten declines to speculate on just how much difference those few days make.