--- From: "Ted Bridis" <tbridisat_private> To: <declanat_private> Subject: More anti-terrorism legislative changes under consideration Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 22:20:18 -0500 Organization: The Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Terror-Laws.html November 29, 2001 New Surveillance Measures Considered By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 8:33 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just weeks after approving powerful new anti-terrorism laws, some lawmakers already are considering giving the government new police powers to make it easier to obtain special wiretaps and search warrants usually reserved for finding foreign spies. The new changes would allow government agents to secretly request wiretaps even if details about the target of the surveillance, such as his identity or the location of his phone, aren't known. They also would allow agents to make broader demands for most business records, as long as the documents were related to an investigation. Another change, which lawmakers considered but rejected on Wednesday, would have permitted the United States to invoke a powerful anti-espionage law even in cases against individual foreigners. That law is currently reserved for cases against people working as spies for foreign governments or other foreign organizations. A fourth change, still under consideration, would give the government up to three days to seek a judge's approval for warrants after investigators conduct a search or wiretap in emergencies. The government currently must obtain a judge's permission after 24 hours. The changes, under consideration by House and Senate members working on the intelligence bill that would set the budget for the CIA, would affect a powerful 1978 anti-espionage law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under that law, a secret U.S. court considers requests for searches or wiretaps, and these generally require a lower standard of proof for approval than in traditional criminal cases. The Justice Department characterized the changes being sought as narrow, technical amendments to the surveillance act. House and Senate oversight committees had urged intelligence agencies and the Justice Department to suggest changes to the law, according to people familiar with the process. Five proposals, including the one lawmakers rejected, came from Justice lawyers. ``It is perfectly normal that committees will reach out to executive agencies for input about changes they want to make and language that facilitates that,'' Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said. ``In this case, the intelligence committees reached out to the Justice Department for technical guidance.'' Civil liberties groups cautioned that the changes were substantive and considerably broadened police powers. ``This is a significant expansion of electronic surveillance in the United States,'' said Jerry Berman, head of the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology. ``It's only been a month or so, and they're already asking for expansions.'' The change rejected by lawmakers would have allowed the surveillance law to be used against ``a foreign individual,'' according to draft language by the Justice Department, which was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Justice lawyers wrote that otherwise restricting use of the espionage law ``limits the ability of the president to use this statute against ... hijackers or other terrorists without affiliation or known affiliation with a specific group or foreign state.'' People familiar with the considerations, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said lawmakers considered the change too substantive to be included among technical amendments and decided Wednesday afternoon not to consider it further, at least until next year. Another change would add the phrase ``if known'' to the requirement for wiretap approvals of identifying the location of a target's electronic communications. Justice lawyers said the change would be useful in cases of wireless telephones or e-mail accounts, ``where the facility to be monitored is typically not known in advance.'' Reacting to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Congress under the new Patriot Act gave government agents broad new powers to detain immigrants, eavesdrop on telephone calls and e-mails and share sensitive details of criminal investigations with the CIA. President Bush signed the Patriot Act on Oct. 26. Among other things, the law permits U.S. prosecutors to invoke the anti-espionage law even when the primary focus of their investigation isn't spying by a foreign government. It also makes it legal for investigators to pass sensitive information about criminal cases to intelligence agencies. The intelligence bill, which is largely classified, provides funding and some policy guidance to the 13 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. Its total amount is secret but thought to be around $30 billion annually. The House and Senate have already passed separate versions of the bill, which contain large increases for the agencies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. 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