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Negotiators in U.S. House Agree on Anti-Terrorism Tools
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed in principle Monday to give President George W. Bush's administration expanded powers to fight terrorism amid fears that fresh attacks are likely, a congressional source said.
The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said lawmakers are prepared to back measures giving federal officials broader law enforcement authority, but could not agree to everything Attorney General John Ashcroft had requested.
A bill was expected to be introduced Tuesday and approved Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee, the source said.
But the measure would strip out or scale back a number of controversial proposals offered by the White House, including the authority to indefinitely detain foreign nationals identified by the attorney general as terrorist threats, the
Los Angeles Times reported.
The compromise was negotiated by Reps. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the chairman and the ranking minority member, respectively, of the House Judiciary Committee. Their endorsements will carry considerable weight with their colleagues, said the paper.
According to the Times, Sensenbrenner and Conyers eliminated some of those provisions, rejecting proposals that would have enabled law enforcement to seize the assets of suspected terrorists, conduct criminal property searches without notifying suspects, access a greater range of student records and cooperate with foreign governments to conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens here and abroad.
House lawmakers also added provisions that the White House may not welcome. The House bill, for instance, would create a watchdog position in the Justice Department to oversee the protection of civil liberties, with the power to investigate citizens' complaints of abuses.
The House version also contains a clause that would cause provisions expanding authorities' wiretapping powers to expire after two years and would require congressional review before they are renewed. Ashcroft has argued against including such a "sunset" provision, said the paper.
The agreement does not apply to the U.S. Senate, which must also approve any legislation before it becomes law.
Bush and Ashcroft have in past days turned up the pressure on a reluctant Congress to give the administration expanded powers.
"There is a very serious threat of additional problems now, and frankly, as the United States responds, that threat may escalate," Ashcroft warned Sunday.
"Talk will not prevent terrorism. We need to have action by Congress."
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on New York's World Trade Center and Washington D.C.'s Pentagon, a need exists to find a balance between intensified security procedures and civil liberties.
The Justice Department wants to extend the period during which immigrants suspected of having engaged in terrorism and who already face allegations of immigration irregularities can be detained without a court order.
Civil liberties groups said the measure was a marked improvement over Ashcroft's initial proposal, which drew heavy criticism from such disparate organizations as the National Rifle Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, reported the paper.
But many critics weren't assuaged by the revisions. "It's inadequate," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU's national office in Washington. "The potential for abuse is still great here," said the
Times.
Ashcroft also wants eased restrictions on the ability of investigators to tap into a suspect's telephone or electronic communications.
The trend toward tighter security, however, has disconcerted civil rights activists, experts and certain lawmakers who fear that basic, constitutionally protected freedoms could be threatened.
"I think everybody knows that we're going to have to make sure that we have some kind of a check and balance in there," Senator Patrick Leahy, a prominent Democrat, said.
"We don't want to be like countries that we criticize all the time when - if an American goes there, they can hold them without even telling them what they are holding them for."
Earlier, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said negotiations continued Monday on the administration's proposals, and predicted the House Judiciary Committee would approve anti-terrorism legislation this week.
While movement in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives may be expeditious, the pace is likely to be slower in the Senate, where Democrats have the upper hand.
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