Lisa Graves [3], the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy [4], was the only public interest group advocate invited to testify in Washington on Wednesday, September 23, before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee [5] in its hearing on the Patriot Act [6] and national security surveillance issues.

The complete hearing, including her testimony, is viewable online [7]. In her written testimony [8], Lisa dissected U.S. government propaganda and spin from the previous Patriot Act debate of 2004 and 2005, calling for policy improvements to better protect human rights and civil liberties.

She was interviewed by Amy Goodman [9] on her Democracy Now! program on September 22, where she explained the issues at stake in the current debate over Patriot Act renewal advocated by the Obama Administration [10].