Last week, I joined a bipartisan group of my Senate colleagues in announcing an agreement with the White House to modify the pending reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act. Our goal from the start was to give law enforcement the tools to combat terrorism while providing essential protections for the civil liberties of all Americans.

Negotiated over the last six weeks, the package makes three significant changes to the Patriot Act, breaking a stalemate in the Senate that has lasted for two months.

First, the agreement will, for the first time, give recipients of Section 215 subpoenas the explicit right to challenge the gag order in court. Section 215 subpoenas are orders issued by a secret court so the government can access sensitive personal information such as medical, library and gun-purchase records. Under current law, the recipient is subject to a nondisclosure, or "gag" order, which cannot be challenged in court.

Second, the agreement removes a provision from the pending bill that requires the recipient of a National Security Letter to disclose to the FBI the name of his or her attorney. This provision exists nowhere else in current law and could potentially discourage someone from seeking legal advice.

Finally, the agreement contains language clarifying that a library, when functioning in its traditional role, including providing internet access, cannot be served with a National Security Letter.

These important changes to the Patriot Act reauthorization bill augment a number of civil liberty safeguards our bipartisan coalition was able to add to the legislation last year.

These protections include requirements to:

• Limit the scope of Section 215 orders.

• Destroy information inadvertently obtained on innocent Americans.

• Establish a clear process for judicial review of Section 215 and National Security Letter orders.

• Provide explicit judicial review of a National Security Letter gag order.

• Sunset Section 215 and roving wiretaps authority in four years.

• Limit "sneak and peek"search warrants to 30 days.

• Require greater clarity for roving wiretap standards.

• Mandate detailed reporting on the use of these powerful law enforcement tools.

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