In February, the non-profit Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based watchdog organisation, posted on its web site an 86-page draft of the secret Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003.

United States Attorney General John Ashcroft's staff had drafted the document even as the Justice Department denied persistent rumours about the creation such a bill.

The draft bill proposes more than 100 changes in law, and allows increased electronic surveillance and data collection from sources such as e-mail, chat rooms and cell phone conversations.

For the first time encryption will be made a criminal offence, a daunting idea considering the increasing daily usage of encryption in internet communication.

The draft bill allows the attorney general to deport any foreigner, including permanent legal residents whose presence is considered 'inconsistent with national security'. The summary deportation can be carried out even if there is no evidence of crime or criminal intent.

Section 501 of the DSEA allows the Justice Department to revoke permanent resident alien status. It gives the government power to strip the citizenship of, and detain as aliens, Americans suspected of helping those 'designated as a terrorist organisation'.

The draft bill dramatically increases the government's domestic spying capabilities. It permits wiretapping of citizens and residents for 15 days without a court order, at the discretion of the Attorney General. It allows a citizen's internet and chat room visits to be monitored for 48 hours without a judge's permission.

The document also protects federal agents carrying out illegal surveillance while Section 312 invalidates court-approved curbs on police spying.

Authorities may create a DNA database from 'suspected terrorists' or non-citizens suspected of 'ordinary' [read non-terrorist] crimes.

For the first time in US history secret arrests will be permitted in a section titled 'Prohibition of Disclosure of Terrorism Investigation Detainee Information'. It allows federal agents to carry out indefinite detentions while denying the identity or existence of such detainees.

In fact, proposed Section 201 of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act overturns a federal court order that the Bush administration must reveal the identities of detainees. The relevant section notes that 'the government need not disclose information about individuals detained in investigations of terrorism' until criminal charges are filed.

Charles Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity and a former television personality, was interviewed on Bill Moyers's PBS programme Now, on the same day the document was leaked.

The draft bill would 'give the attorney general unchecked power to deport any foreigner', Moyers said.

Soon after the show aired on the enormously influential PBS station, the leaked document began to make its way to mainstream radio and media outlets.

Civil liberties group dubbed the proposed bill 'Patriot Act II' after the USA Patriot Act, which was passed soon after September 11, 2001. That act gave the government unprecedented powers while limiting civil liberties.

"If you liked the Patriot Act, you're going to love the sequel," said George Getz, communications director of the Libertarian Party. "Patriot II offers awesome government power, rapidly disappearing freedom, and an action-packed war on the Constitution.

"You'll be sitting on the edge of your seat as your liberties are stripped away," he added.

Other civil groups said much the same thing. "The DSEA of 2003 encroaches on the rights and protections of Americans even more than its predecessor did," said Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association.

Lipman said the bill 'would see our basic freedoms diminished along with key checks and balances on executive branch powers'.

He said certain individuals would be targeted not on their actions but on whether they were a 'potential threat' according to 'ethnicity, belief, appearance, or other unrelated factors'.

Lewis, who is executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, said the leaked document provided startling evidence of 'another tectonic shift in the historic constitutional balance between security and liberty'.

The Department of Justice has not yet officially released the draft bill, but a 'control sheet' attached to the bill indicated copies were sent to Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

No official statement has been made on the draft bill or the fact that it was leaked to the Internet, and subsequently to the media. The only response from the Department of Justice was a written statement from a spokesperson saying it would be 'premature to speculate on any future decisions, particularly ideas or proposals that are still being discussed at staff levels'.