Justice offers draft bill expanding law enforcement powers

Building on anti-terrorism legislation passed within weeks of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Justice Department officials have crafted a draft bill eliminating many protections against surveillance of U.S. citizens and offering law enforcement dramatic new powers.

Under the measure-which Justice officials said is a draft that has not yet been approved by the attorney general-law enforcement officials could monitor citizens because they were gathering information for lawful foreign organizations.

The bill also lowers the surveillance standards for multi-purpose computers like Pocket PCs, creates a database for storing DNA information about suspected terrorists, and mandates a five-year penalty for engaging in encryption when committing a felony.

On top of expanding electronic surveillance authority, the bill would permit secret arrest of individuals detained in terrorism investigations, terminate agreements by police departments not to engage in racial profiling, give the attorney general unchecked power to deport foreigners, including permanent resident aliens, and allow U.S. citizenship to be stripped from individuals because of political associations with groups deemed to be "terrorist" by the attorney general.

Privacy and civil liberties activists decried what they considered the sweeping nature of the proposals.

"The USA PATRIOT Act started us down the road of trading important liberties and freedoms for a false sense of security, and this act removes many remaining constitutional provisions that help keep us free, and keep the government accountable for what it does in our name," said Tim Edgar, legislative counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Referring to the ability to monitor individuals who gather information for foreign organizations, Edgar said: "Under this statute, an activist who is simply gathering information on human rights violations could be wiretapped on the theory that they are gathering information for a foreign intelligence power without any indication that they are violating the law or that their activities present a threat to national security."

Under the section-by-section analysis prepared by the Justice Department officials-and which the Center for Public Integrity posted on its Web site late Friday-officials wrote: "Showing that the intelligence gathering violates the laws of the United States is both unnecessary and counterproductive, as such activities threaten the national security regardless of whether they are illegal."

"The Bush administration's draft Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 would radically expand law enforcement and intelligence gathering authorities," said Georgetown University law professor David Cole.

With regard to multifunction devices like Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs, the Justice Department analysis said that "authorization to monitor one of the device's functions also entails the authority to monitor other functions."

"It goes quite a bit further than simply filling out a few holes in the PATRIOT Act," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He particularly was critical of the additional five-year penalty for using encryption, which he called a bad idea several years ago, and "an even worse idea now."