Feds Urged to Beef Up Spying

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36868,00.html

by Declan McCullagh
10:50 a.m. Jun. 9, 2000 PDT

WASHINGTON -- Congress must give federal police more eavesdropping
abilities and increase the budgets of spy agencies, members of a
federal commission are recommending.

The Justice Department is "overly cautious" when forwarding requests
for wiretaps and electronic surveillance to a secret court established
in 1978 for that purpose, Paul Bremer, the National Commission on
Terrorism chairman, said Thursday.

Bremer also told the Senate Intelligence committee that technologies
such as encryption and fiber optics are making it tough for the
once-super-secret National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the world's
communications -- and such surveillance is more vital than ever.

"How much more important a role the NSA can play in this field than
when I left in 1989," said Bremer, who until 11 years ago was the U.S.
ambassador-at-large for counter-terrorism.

Bremer's testimony was designed to summarize the group's recent
recommendations, contained in an 80KB report, and deflect criticism of
some of the more controversial suggestions such as using the military
to respond to terrorist or suspected terrorist acts.

The commission has 11 members, including senior officials such as
retired U.S. Army General Wayne Downing; John Lewis, a former
assistant director of the FBI's national security division; and former
CIA director James Woolsey. No civil libertarians or privacy advocates
were included.

In a letter sent this week to Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama),
chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee, the commission says:
"Signals intelligence plays an increasingly vital role in U.S.
counterterrorism efforts, yet the ability of the NSA to continue this
essential mission is threatened by its failure to keep pace with
changing technology.

"The commission heard testimony from NSA representatives and others
about the difficulties presented by the explosion in modern
communications technologies. It is clear that while increased use of
these technologies by intelligence targets presents potential
collection opportunities, the NSA will not be able to exploit these
opportunities without improvements in its own technology"," the letter
said.

In order to attract better candidates to the NSA's top job, the
commission recommended making it a six year appointment, rather than
three as it is now. It also urged that the NSA head be a four-star
general officer. Currently, a three-star general holds the post.

The suggestions generated little or no controversy during Thursday's
hearing. The Senate committee already reached a similar conclusion,
saying in an April report that "rebuilding the NSA is the ... top
priority. (We) will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure
America's continuing superiority in the signals intelligence field."

Greg Nojeim, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties
Union, said Congress should think twice before acting.

"The NSA ought not be showered with additional billions in taxpayer
money until it becomes comfortable with probing hearings that the NSA
is not listening in on Americans without a court order," Nojeim said.

Earlier this year, the House Intelligence committee held hearings
after an outcry over a reported NSA global surveillance system called
Echelon. Few legislators asked tough questions.

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows a secret court
to approve national security-related search warrants and wiretaps.

The terrorism commission was critical of the Justice Department,
saying that it was requesting more information than it needed before
considering the FBI's request for a warrant to the FISA court.


*-------------------------------------------------*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
Intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
---------------------------------------------------
C4I Secure Solutions             http://www.c4i.org
*-------------------------------------------------*

ISN is sponsored by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".