"Secret Court OKs Broad Wiretap Powers" / "FBI Watch List Acquires Life of Its Own&qu
Secret Court OKs Broad Wiretap Powers
Mon Nov 18, 4:37 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a victory for the Bush administration, a secretive appeals court Monday ruled the U.S. government has the right to use expanded powers to wiretap terrorism suspects under a law adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The ruling was a blow to civil libertarians who say the expanded powers, which allow greater leeway in conducting electronic surveillance and in using information obtained from the wiretaps and searches, jeopardize constitutional rights.
In a 56-page ruling overturning a May opinion by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the three-judge appeals court panel said the Patriot Act gave the government the right to expanded powers.
Sweeping anti-terror legislation, called the USA Patriot Act and signed into law in October last year after the hijacked plane attacks, makes it easier for investigators and prosecutors to share information obtained by surveillance and searches.
In the May ruling, the seven judges that comprise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court unanimously told the government it had gone too far in interpreting the law to allow broad information sharing.
The Justice Department (news - web sites) appealed, saying the order limited the kind of coordination needed to protect national security.
Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) hailed Monday's ruling and said he was immediately implementing new regulations and working to expedite the surveillance process.
"The court of review's action revolutionizes our ability to investigate terrorists and prosecute terrorist acts," he said. "This decision does allow law enforcement officials to learn from intelligence officials and vice versa."
FOURTH AMENDMENT ISSUES
Civil liberties groups, which had urged the appeals court -- comprised of three appeals court judges named by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist (news - web sites) -- to uphold the court's order, slammed the ruling.
"We are deeply disappointed with the decision, which suggests that this special court exists only to rubber-stamp government applications for intrusive surveillance warrants," said Ann Beeson of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites).
The groups had argued that broader government surveillance powers would violate the Fourth Amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
But the appeals court said the procedures as required under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were reasonable.
"We think the procedures and government showings required under FISA, if they do not meet the minimum Fourth Amendment warrant standards, certainly come close," the judges wrote in their ruling, which was partially declassified and published.
"We, therefore, believe firmly ... that FISA as amended is constitutional because the surveillances it authorizes are reasonable."
Ashcroft said the government would uphold the Constitution. "We have no desire whatever to, in any way, erode or undermine the constitutional liberties here," he said.
The appeal is the first since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court and appeals court were created in 1978 to authorize wiretap requests in foreign intelligence investigations. Under the procedures, all hearings and decisions of the courts are conducted in secret.
The appeal hearing was not public, and only the Justice Department's top appellate lawyer, Theodore Olson, presented arguments.
Although the court allowed "friend of the court" briefs to be filed by civil liberties groups and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, since the Justice Department was the only party the ruling can likely not be appealed.
"This is a major Constitutional decision that will affect every American's privacy rights, yet there is no way anyone but the government can automatically appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court," Beeson said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Watch List Acquires Life of Its Own
November 19, 2002
Post-Sept. 11 Watch List
Acquires Life of Its Own
FBI Listed People Wanted for Questioning,
But Out-of-Date Versions Dog the Innocent
By ANN DAVIS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
LAS VEGAS -- When a patron at the New York-New York casino plugged his
frequent-player card into a slot machine one day this summer, something
strange happened: An alert warned the casino's surveillance officials that
an associate of a suspected terrorist might be on the grounds.
How did a casino's computer make such a connection? Shortly after Sept.
11, the FBI had entrusted a quickly developed watch list to scores of
corporations around the country.
Departing from its usual practice of closely guarding such lists, the FBI
circulated the names of hundreds of people it wanted to question.
Counterterrorism officials gave the list to car-rental companies. Then FBI
field agents and other officials circulated it to big banks,
travel-reservations systems, firms that collect consumer data, as well as
casino operators such as MGM Mirage, the owner of New York-New York.
Additional recipients included businesses thought vulnerable to terrorist
intrusion, including truckers, chemical companies and power-plant
operators. It was the largest intelligence-sharing experiment the bureau
has ever undertaken with the private sector.
A year later, the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying --
and error-filled -- versions being passed around like bootleg music. Some
companies fed a version of the list into their own databases and now use
it to screen job applicants and customers. A water-utilities trade
association used the list "in lieu of" standard background checks, says
the New Jersey group's executive director.
The list included many people the FBI didn't suspect but just wanted to
talk to. Yet a version on SeguRed.com (www.segured.com4), a South American
security-oriented Web site that got a copy from a Venezuelan bank's
security officer, is headed: "list of suspected terrorists sent by the FBI
to financial institutions." (The site's editor says he may change the
heading.) Meanwhile, a supermarket trade group used a version of the list
to try to check whether terrorists were raising funds through known
shoplifting rings. The trade group won't disclose results.
The FBI credits the effort, dubbed Project Lookout, with helping it
rapidly find some people with relevant information in the crisis
atmosphere right after the terror attacks. MGM Mirage says it has tipped
off the FBI at least six times since beginning to track hotel and casino
guests against the list.
The FBI and other investigative agencies -- which were criticized after
Sept. 11 for not sharing their information enough -- are exploring new
ways to do so, including mining corporate data to find suspects or spot
suspicious activity. The Pentagon is developing technology it can use to
sweep up personal data from commercial transactions around the world.
"Information sharing" has become a buzzword. But one significant step in
this direction, Project Lookout, is in many ways a study in how not to
share intelligence.
The watch list shared with companies -- one part of the FBI's massive
counterterrorism database -- quickly became obsolete as the bureau worked
its way through the names. The FBI's counterterrorism division quietly
stopped updating the list more than a year ago. But it never informed
most of the companies that had received a copy. FBI headquarters doesn't
know who is still using the list because officials never kept track of who
got it.
"We have now lost control of that list,'' says Art Cummings, head of the
strategic analysis and warning section of the FBI's counterterrorism
division. "We shouldn't have had those problems."
The bureau tried to cut off distribution after less than six weeks, partly
from worry that suspects could too easily find out they had been tagged.
Another concern has been misidentification, especially as multipart Middle
Eastern names are degraded by typos when faxed and are fed into new
databases.
Then there's the problem of getting off the list. At first the FBI
frequently removed names of people it had cleared. But issuing updated
lists, which the FBI once did as often as four times a day, didn't fix the
older ones already in circulation. Three brothers in Texas named Atta --
long since exonerated, and no relation to the alleged lead hijacker -- are
still trying to chase their names off copies of the list posted on
Internet sites in at least five countries.
People who've asked the FBI for help getting off the bootleg lists say
they've been told the bureau can't do anything to correct outdated lists
still floating around. The FBI's Mr. Cummings says that "the most we can
control is our official dissemination of that list." Once it left the law-
enforcement community, "we have no jurisdiction to say, 'If you
disseminate this further, we will prosecute you.' "
Despite the problems, Mr. Cummings and other proponents of
information-sharing say the process should be improved, not abandoned.
Software companies are rushing to help, trying to make information-sharing
easier and more effective.
Secret Court OKs Broad Wiretap Powers
Mon Nov 18, 4:37 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a victory for the Bush administration, a secretive appeals court Monday ruled the U.S. government has the right to use expanded powers to wiretap terrorism suspects under a law adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The ruling was a blow to civil libertarians who say the expanded powers, which allow greater leeway in conducting electronic surveillance and in using information obtained from the wiretaps and searches, jeopardize constitutional rights.
In a 56-page ruling overturning a May opinion by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the three-judge appeals court panel said the Patriot Act gave the government the right to expanded powers.
Sweeping anti-terror legislation, called the USA Patriot Act and signed into law in October last year after the hijacked plane attacks, makes it easier for investigators and prosecutors to share information obtained by surveillance and searches.
In the May ruling, the seven judges that comprise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court unanimously told the government it had gone too far in interpreting the law to allow broad information sharing.
The Justice Department (news - web sites) appealed, saying the order limited the kind of coordination needed to protect national security.
Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) hailed Monday's ruling and said he was immediately implementing new regulations and working to expedite the surveillance process.
"The court of review's action revolutionizes our ability to investigate terrorists and prosecute terrorist acts," he said. "This decision does allow law enforcement officials to learn from intelligence officials and vice versa."
FOURTH AMENDMENT ISSUES
Civil liberties groups, which had urged the appeals court -- comprised of three appeals court judges named by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist (news - web sites) -- to uphold the court's order, slammed the ruling.
"We are deeply disappointed with the decision, which suggests that this special court exists only to rubber-stamp government applications for intrusive surveillance warrants," said Ann Beeson of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites).
The groups had argued that broader government surveillance powers would violate the Fourth Amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
But the appeals court said the procedures as required under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were reasonable.
"We think the procedures and government showings required under FISA, if they do not meet the minimum Fourth Amendment warrant standards, certainly come close," the judges wrote in their ruling, which was partially declassified and published.
"We, therefore, believe firmly ... that FISA as amended is constitutional because the surveillances it authorizes are reasonable."
Ashcroft said the government would uphold the Constitution. "We have no desire whatever to, in any way, erode or undermine the constitutional liberties here," he said.
The appeal is the first since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court and appeals court were created in 1978 to authorize wiretap requests in foreign intelligence investigations. Under the procedures, all hearings and decisions of the courts are conducted in secret.
The appeal hearing was not public, and only the Justice Department's top appellate lawyer, Theodore Olson, presented arguments.
Although the court allowed "friend of the court" briefs to be filed by civil liberties groups and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, since the Justice Department was the only party the ruling can likely not be appealed.
"This is a major Constitutional decision that will affect every American's privacy rights, yet there is no way anyone but the government can automatically appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court," Beeson said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Watch List Acquires Life of Its Own
November 19, 2002
Post-Sept. 11 Watch List
Acquires Life of Its Own
FBI Listed People Wanted for Questioning,
But Out-of-Date Versions Dog the Innocent
By ANN DAVIS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
LAS VEGAS -- When a patron at the New York-New York casino plugged his
frequent-player card into a slot machine one day this summer, something
strange happened: An alert warned the casino's surveillance officials that
an associate of a suspected terrorist might be on the grounds.
How did a casino's computer make such a connection? Shortly after Sept.
11, the FBI had entrusted a quickly developed watch list to scores of
corporations around the country.
Departing from its usual practice of closely guarding such lists, the FBI
circulated the names of hundreds of people it wanted to question.
Counterterrorism officials gave the list to car-rental companies. Then FBI
field agents and other officials circulated it to big banks,
travel-reservations systems, firms that collect consumer data, as well as
casino operators such as MGM Mirage, the owner of New York-New York.
Additional recipients included businesses thought vulnerable to terrorist
intrusion, including truckers, chemical companies and power-plant
operators. It was the largest intelligence-sharing experiment the bureau
has ever undertaken with the private sector.
A year later, the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying --
and error-filled -- versions being passed around like bootleg music. Some
companies fed a version of the list into their own databases and now use
it to screen job applicants and customers. A water-utilities trade
association used the list "in lieu of" standard background checks, says
the New Jersey group's executive director.
The list included many people the FBI didn't suspect but just wanted to
talk to. Yet a version on SeguRed.com (www.segured.com4), a South American
security-oriented Web site that got a copy from a Venezuelan bank's
security officer, is headed: "list of suspected terrorists sent by the FBI
to financial institutions." (The site's editor says he may change the
heading.) Meanwhile, a supermarket trade group used a version of the list
to try to check whether terrorists were raising funds through known
shoplifting rings. The trade group won't disclose results.
The FBI credits the effort, dubbed Project Lookout, with helping it
rapidly find some people with relevant information in the crisis
atmosphere right after the terror attacks. MGM Mirage says it has tipped
off the FBI at least six times since beginning to track hotel and casino
guests against the list.
The FBI and other investigative agencies -- which were criticized after
Sept. 11 for not sharing their information enough -- are exploring new
ways to do so, including mining corporate data to find suspects or spot
suspicious activity. The Pentagon is developing technology it can use to
sweep up personal data from commercial transactions around the world.
"Information sharing" has become a buzzword. But one significant step in
this direction, Project Lookout, is in many ways a study in how not to
share intelligence.
The watch list shared with companies -- one part of the FBI's massive
counterterrorism database -- quickly became obsolete as the bureau worked
its way through the names. The FBI's counterterrorism division quietly
stopped updating the list more than a year ago. But it never informed
most of the companies that had received a copy. FBI headquarters doesn't
know who is still using the list because officials never kept track of who
got it.
"We have now lost control of that list,'' says Art Cummings, head of the
strategic analysis and warning section of the FBI's counterterrorism
division. "We shouldn't have had those problems."
The bureau tried to cut off distribution after less than six weeks, partly
from worry that suspects could too easily find out they had been tagged.
Another concern has been misidentification, especially as multipart Middle
Eastern names are degraded by typos when faxed and are fed into new
databases.
Then there's the problem of getting off the list. At first the FBI
frequently removed names of people it had cleared. But issuing updated
lists, which the FBI once did as often as four times a day, didn't fix the
older ones already in circulation. Three brothers in Texas named Atta --
long since exonerated, and no relation to the alleged lead hijacker -- are
still trying to chase their names off copies of the list posted on
Internet sites in at least five countries.
People who've asked the FBI for help getting off the bootleg lists say
they've been told the bureau can't do anything to correct outdated lists
still floating around. The FBI's Mr. Cummings says that "the most we can
control is our official dissemination of that list." Once it left the law-
enforcement community, "we have no jurisdiction to say, 'If you
disseminate this further, we will prosecute you.' "
Despite the problems, Mr. Cummings and other proponents of
information-sharing say the process should be improved, not abandoned.
Software companies are rushing to help, trying to make information-sharing
easier and more effective.
