Ashcroft: Toughen laws to fight terrorism
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department plans to ask Congress to rewrite some federal laws to enhance anti-terrorist efforts, including granting investigative agencies greater surveillance powers, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Sunday.
Ashcroft said he will send a proposal to Congress this week, seeking broader powers in areas such as wiretapping phones and penalizing those who support terrorists.
"It's clear to me that we need to upgrade and strengthen a number of laws in the United States," Ashcroft said.
For example, under current law, a court authorizes a wiretap for a particular phone, not a person. "It doesn't make sense" in an age when multiple phones are common, Ashcroft said. Wiretaps, he said, should be focused on individuals, not the hardware.
Ashcroft said he would meet with some members of Congress on Sunday afternoon to discuss the package.
Some privacy groups have quietly been raising concerns that the U.S. reaction to the terrorist assaults may lead to an erosions of civil liberties, and they fear the Bush administration may seek broad new law enforcement powers that go beyond terrorism.
