Washington Post Proposed Anti-Terrorism Laws Draw Tough Questions By John Lancaster and Walter Pincus The Bush administration's urgent quest for new anti-terrorism laws
bogged down in Congress yesterday, as lawmakers from both parties
expressed concern that the hastily prepared package could greatly expand
police powers at the expense of privacy and other civil liberties. At a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, skeptical members
confronted Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and other senior Justice
Department officials on a number of administration proposals, including
one that would permit the indefinite detention without trial of immigrants
suspected of ties to terrorist groups. They also complained that the administration is trying to force the
package through Congress without giving lawmakers time to adequately
digest proposals that could have serious, unforeseen consequences for
rights that Americans now take for granted. "Why is it necessary to rush this through?" asked Rep. Robert L. Barr
Jr., the conservative Georgia Republican. "Does it have anything to do
with the fact that the department has sought many of these authorities on
numerous other occasions, has been unsuccessful in obtaining them, and now
seeks to take advantage of what is obviously an emergency situation to
obtain authorities that it has been unable to obtain previously?" At the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, meanwhile, Ashcroft's
proposed expansion of a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (FISA), which governs wiretapping of non-Americans inside the United
States, ran into trouble not only with Democrats and civil liberties
advocates, but also with at least one Republican member, Sen. Mike DeWine
(R-Ohio). Notwithstanding their reservations, lawmakers emphasized their desire
to work closely with the administration in the aftermath of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. There is already broad agreement, for example, on the
need to strengthen criminal penalties for terrorism and to rewrite
surveillance laws to take into account new technologies, such as
e-mail. In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.)
and members of his staff worked with administration officials last weekend
as they raced to complete their anti-terrorism bill in advance of a
hearing before Leahy's committee today. At yesterday's House hearing, Ashcroft said the administration wants
Congress to act now on its "modest set of proposals" in light of what he
said was the very real possibility that terrorists are planning additional
attacks. "Terrorism is a clear and present danger to Americans today,"
Ashcroft said. "Each day that so passes is a day that terrorists have an advantage,"
he added. "We are today sending our troops into the modern field of battle
with antique weapons." The administration's bill would make it easier for law enforcement
agencies to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists by expanding wiretap
authority from single phone lines to multiple modes of communication
linked to a suspect, such as cell phones and e-mail. It would also expand the definition of terrorists to include those who
"lend support" to terrorist organizations, and it would allow immigration
officials to "detain and remove" them. It would permit law enforcement
agencies to share information -- including grand jury testimony -- with
intelligence agencies, and it would let law enforcement officials not only
freeze terrorists' assets but also seize them. The proposals have sparked opposition from a wide array of civil
liberties groups -- including liberals as well as conservative
libertarians -- and there were abundant signs yesterday that many
lawmakers are also uneasy. People familiar with Leahy's thinking for, example, say the Vermont
lawmaker is concerned that the bill would permit the indefinite detention
of suspected terrorists without any meaningful judicial review and would
greatly enhance government surveillance powers in all areas of law
enforcement, not just those that relate to terrorism. Leahy is also said to have reservations about the sharing of
information among law enforcement and intelligence agencies, fearing that
it could be abused for political purposes. The last concern is shared by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a member of
the House panel, who yesterday recalled the "savage campaign of defamation
waged by J. Edgar Hoover as head of the FBI against Dr. Martin Luther
King." Ashcroft noted that the sharing of such information for political
purposes is a criminal offense, and Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson
said the provision allowing collaboration between law enforcement and
intelligence agencies is important because "the left hand has to know what
the right hand is doing." Similar objections on the topic of wiretapping foreigners in the United
States surfaced at the Senate intelligence committee. Currently, the FBI
must show to a special court that collecting foreign intelligence is the
"sole" or "primary" reason for seeking such wiretaps. For a wiretap to be
installed in a criminal case, the courts require additional information
indicating that a crime probably is involved. The change sought by
Ashcroft would ease the way for the FBI to get authority by requiring
certification only that foreign intelligence is "a" purpose of the
tap. This new, lower requirement, combined with other provisions that open
the way for complete FBI and CIA sharing of information gathered in
terrorist cases, would permit criminal case investigators to obtain
wiretaps more easily in terrorist cases using FISA than under normal
criminal wiretap statutes. DeWine said he believed the Justice approach could cause "real
problems" if the wiretap information from a FISA tap was used in a
criminal case. He questioned Associate Deputy Attorney General David S.
Kris on the latter's contention that the changes being sought would not
endanger the constitutionality of the entire FISA law. "I hope you're right," DeWine said, "but I'm not sure you are right."
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.) also
questioned the constitutionality of the provision. Copyright © 2001. Washington Post. All rights reserved. saved from url: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19559-2001Sep24.html
September 25, 2001
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