President Signs Anti-Terrorism Bill Amid Privacy Concerns

By Christine Hall

CNSNews.com Staff Writer

October 26, 2001

(CNSNews.com) - President Bush signed a terror-fighting bill into law Friday, telling the nation that it represented an essential step in defeating terrorists while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans.

Police will now have greater authority to secretly search the homes of suspected terrorists, tap telephone conversations, detain immigrants for seven days without charges and track Internet use.

The law will also allow officials to share grand jury information regarding suspected terrorist operations and investigate suspected money laundering operations.

Some of the surveillance provisions expire in four years unless renewed by Congress. But, the sunset provision does not apply to the sharing of grand jury information with the CIA, the secret sneak and peak searches, or the Internet tracking. Nor does the sunset provision apply to investigations that are still in progress.

The law's provisions were subjected to much criticism and negotiation in recent weeks, with some arguing the legislation failed to go far enough in freeing the hands of law enforcement authorities and others saying it went too far and will trample civil liberties.

Supporters of the new law say changes were necessary in order to enhance communication between law enforcement and surveillance agencies, to strengthen control of border abuse by foreign terrorists, and to increase penalties for terrorist activities.

We're dealing with terrorists who operate by highly sophisticated methods and technologies, some of which were not even available when our existing laws were written, said Bush.

Our overall goal must be stopping terrorists in their tracks rather than wasting precious time, energy and resources fighting bureaucratic legal hurdles, said House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

Some privacy advocates, however, say the legislation is an infringement of civil liberties.

This bill has been called a compromise, said Jerry Berman, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology; but the only thing compromised is our civil liberties.

This bill does too much damage to the Constitution, said Steve Dasbach, the Libertarian Party's national director. [It] massively increases the government's surveillance powers, diminishes Americans' privacy and restricts our fundamental civil liberties.

Other groups were unhappy with the impact the new law will have on immigrants.

According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the national association of more than 7,500 practicing immigration attorneys, the law will cast too large a net in allowing for the indefinite detention of people engaging in innocent activity and speech.

We are a nation of immigrants and a country with a constitution that upholds
individual rights and liberties, said Jeanne Butterfield, AILA's executive director. We cannot compromise our security or our values.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), however, expressed some disappointment that the new law doesn't go further. Hatch, one of the architects of the bill, is especially opposed to the sunset provision.

In my opinion, a sunset will undermine the effectiveness of the tools we have created and send the wrong message to the American public that somehow these tools are extraordinary, said Hatch.

Furthermore, as the attorney general stated, how can we sunset these tools when we know full well that the terrorists will not sunset their evil intentions, said Hatch. I sincerely hope that we undertake a thorough review and further extend the legislation once the four-year period expires.