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Justice Department investigators nearly doubled the rate at which they used a controversial new search-and-seizure power, allowed under the USA Patriot Act, during the past 22 months, according to data released by the Bush administration yesterday on the eve of congressional testimony by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Formally called delayed-notification searches, the warrants are known as ''sneak and peek" because they allow investigators to search a person's home or business and to seize property without disclosing for weeks or months that they were there. Although investigators must convince a judge that there is a ''reasonable suspicion" that the investigation would be harmed if the subject were notified, no judge has ever denied a request for those searches. Although the warrants are codified in a law enacted to fight terrorism, they are not limited to terrorism investigations. The ACLU said the release ''confirms our worst fears" that the use of the law is expanding beyond terrorism investigations, and called for greater oversight. [more]

In May 2003, the Justice Department released its initial data on how often it had used the search power, covering Oct. 26, 2001, to April 1, 2003. During those roughly 17 months, it asked for and got sneak-and-peek warrants 47 times, or about 2.7 times a month.
According to data released yesterday, investigators sought the warrants 108 times in 22 months -- from April 1, 2003, to Jan. 21, 2005, a rate of 4.9 times a month.