-Caveat Lector-
Broad new powers to track terrorists, all Americans
Copyright Christian Science Monitor Service
By GAIL RUSSELL CHADDOCK, Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON (September 24, 2001 11:10 a.m. EDT) - Hoping to thwart
terrorists, Washington is on the verge of enacting - quickly - the most
sweeping changes in law enforcement in a generation - changes that will
touch the lives of almost every American.
A draft wish list from the Bush administration now circulating in Congress
asks for broad new powers to eavesdrop, control borders, and collect and
share information about citizens, students, and visitors to the United States.
At first glance, it looks as if most of the changes apply just to suspected
terrorists or those who support them. But experts say the impact could be
much broader.
People always think such new laws won't apply to them, but it's tough if you
get caught up in the dragnet, says Christopher Sands, director of the
Canada Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies here.
The impact of new laws and regulations will be most obvious to people
traveling or crossing borders. Passengers will find more metal detectors,
cameras, and checkpoints at airports. This means Americans can expect
fewer flights and more delays, indefinitely.
Along the U.S.-Canada border, where 200 million people cross each year,
the wait at checkpoints will also lengthen dramatically. Concern about the
number of Islamic extremists entering the U.S. from north of the border has
already forced authorities to tighten security.
Now the screening is set to get even more stringent, threatening to create
gridlock.
What will be less obvious in its impact - but no less far reaching - are
congressional moves to allow the government to accumulate more
information about the movements, beliefs and financial transactions of its
citizens. This includes giving authorities more power to detain and prosecute
people.
We need these tools to fight the terrorist threat which exists in the United
States, said Attorney General John Ashcroft last week.
Terrorist experts say there are tough tradeoffs involved in many of these new
provisions. For example, the use of cameras with face recognition software
around airports and public places can help track terrorists. Yet it also gives
government the capacity to track all citizens.
We might have to give the government much more access to our personal
goings-on to protect our overall security, says Michael Swetnam, president
of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a nonprofit group here.
Many of the items on the attorney general's wish list have been a goal of law-
enforcement officials for years, but were blocked by Congress because of
concerns that they violated civil liberties.
But the massive security break that produced the Sept. 11 attacks has
changed the climate in Washington so dramatically that much on this list is
expected to pass into law quickly.
One of the first bills expected to move through Congress is the
administration's request for broader wiretap authority. Current federal law
allows authorities to tap the phone of a suspect. The attorney general wants
authority to track conversations of suspected terrorists across any state - on
any phone, pay phone or cellphone that the suspect may use - including e-
mail and unanswered voice-messages.
By casting a broader net, law-enforcement officials hope to be able to track
terrorists who change cell phones and venues frequently. But civil rights
groups warn that the conversations of many Americans unrelated to terrorists
could also be picked up in the process.
Every year, 2 million communications are intercepted involving people who
weren't even suspected of any crimes, according to the government's own
data, says Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties
Union. That number would be increased exponentially under the new law,
because it allows roving wiretaps that follow that person to any telephone that
person might use.
When the Clinton administration sought broader wiretap authority in 1994,
Congress balked. But lawmakers this time seem inclined to move it through
quickly.
Two days after the assault on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, the
Senate passed by voice vote an amendment that gives government new
authority to search the contents of computers.
Some senators were alarmed that such a controversial and far-reaching
measure passed with no hearings and little debate.
Maybe that will make us feel safer, says Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont,
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who opposed the amendment.
Maybe. And maybe what the terrorists have done made us a little bit less
safe. Maybe they have increased Big Brother in this country.
Other requests to be taken up by Congress in the next two weeks include:
Granting the attorney general discretion to detain any individual determined
to pose a threat to national security. Such a decision could only be
