Ashcroft begins tour defending anti-terror powers

Attorney General John Ashcroft began a multi-city speaking tour on Tuesday aimed at defending the anti-terrorism law dubbed the USA PATRIOT Act. Although the statute has become increasingly controversial since its enactment in 2001, Ashcroft said it is an essential tool in finding and disrupting terrorist cells.

In a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Ashcroft said the PATRIOT Act facilities information sharing among government agencies and added that law enforcement tools for crimes of terrorism already were available against organized crime and drug trafficking.

Ashcroft also described a new Web site, www.lifeandliberty.gov, with a range of publicity materials, including fact sheets on what the law does and does not do. "For two years Americans have been safer, and because we are safer, our liberties are more secure," Ashcroft said.

The American Civil Liberties Union questioned the propriety of the speaking tour, with Laura Murphy, director of the group's Washington office, calling it "political in nature" and possibly "designed to prop up other politically ailing legislative initiatives."

Justice officials denied any impropriety. "We will not be promoting legislation; we have no plans to lobby for anything," spokesman Mark Corallo said. He added that it is entirely appropriate for Ashcroft to talk to federal, state and local law enforcers in the field and thank them for their work.

"We feel that it is a good time to set the record straight and to put the facts out there so the American people have a full range of facts" about the law, Corallo added.

Corallo said Justice has no public position on a draft bill designed to combat narcotics-related terrorism. The 89-page measure, called the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations (VICTORY) Act, has been circulating in Washington, and ACLU officials identified four elements that previously were included in earlier draft legislation to expand electronic surveillance further. Critics of that draft dubbed it PATRIOT Act II.

In March testimony to Congress, Ashcroft denied the existence of a "PATRIOT Act II from the Justice Department." But both he and FBI Director Robert Mueller subsequently have sought legislation to grant three powers proposed in that draft: greater leeway for police to charge people associated with terrorist groups, a broader death penalty for terrorists and more pre-trial detention in terrorism cases.

The draft VICTORY Act appears to be largely designed to combat money laundering and to change sentences for drug offenses. But ACLU legislative counsel Tim Edgar said it includes PATRIOT Act II items, including the ability to use in terrorism cases subpoenas that do not require judicial review and a "good faith" exception when police tap wires illegally.

Murphy said: "An attorney general going on the road, away from his official duties, to favorably spin policies [that violate] civil liberties is troubling to say the least. ... [T]he real significance of this road show is that it shows the PATRIOT Act is becoming a kitchen-table issue."