IP: Secretive court to wield greater power in hunt for terrorists

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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>
> Secretive court to wield greater power in hunt for terrorists
>
> 11/05/01
>
> Anne Gearan Associated Press
>
> Washington
>
> - It meets for a few days each month in a windowless room in the Justice
> Department basement, a highly secretive court that can shape how the
> government spies on some U.S. residents.
>
> Already viewed warily by civil libertarians, the court will grow more
> powerful as a result of the tougher anti-terrorism laws President Bush
> signed into law last month.
>
> The court considers requests, almost always from the FBI, for warrants and
> searches related to foreign intelligence operations inside the United States.
>
> >From what little is known of the operation, the warrants typically allow
> the government to listen in on suspected spies or terrorists.
>
> Civil liberties and privacy watchdogs say the court established by the
> Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act now will be free to approve more and
> broader wiretapping against a wider range of people. The government may
> never have to disclose who was targeted, or why.
>
> "FISA already had just the minimal trappings of a judicial process," said
> David Sobel, a lawyer with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The
> anti-terrorism measures "chip away at the very minimal procedures that
> currently exist."
>
> The court has approved thousands of warrants since it was established by
> Congress in 1978, and only once has turned down the government.
>
> Civil libertarians have always been uneasy with the law and the court,
> because FISA allows the government to do things in the name of national
> security that would be illegal or unconstitutional if done as part of a
> regular criminal investigation.
>
> Under FISA, domestic surveillance can begin once the government shows a
> suspect is probably a "foreign power or agent of a foreign power."
>
> Law enforcement must meet a higher standard - probable cause that a crime
> was committed - to get an ordinary criminal warrant for wiretapping or
> other electronic intrusion.
>
> The different standards were permitted because secret FISA surveillance is
> supposed to help protect the country, rather than gather information about
> a particular person that could be used against them in court.
>
> The new anti-terror laws effectively eliminate that distinction, said Kate
> Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies.
>
> "They totally erased it. Now the primary purpose can be law enforcement,"
> she said.
>
> "We think it renders the statute unconstitutional."
>
>
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