Word: wiretap
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Since Sept. 11, the Bush Administration has detained more than 1,000 noncitizens, waged a foreign war, helped Congress broaden wiretap authority, endorsed military trials for alien alleged terrorists and authorized eavesdropping on certain conversations between lawyers and clients. Most of these measures find support in past practice. But some raise serious doubts...
...days immediately after September 11th, for example, Ashcroft issued a decree permitting federal officers to wiretap pretty much anyone for almost any reason, and to detain people for extended periods of time without filing charges. This Tuesday, the Bush administration went to a whole new level when the President signed an emergency order allowing non-citizens suspected of terrorism to be tried in military tribunals...
...proposals defeated six years ago, "roving wiretaps," made a comeback on the Attorney General's wish list last week. Presently, when wiretap authority is granted by a judge, it applies only to a specified phone. In an era of "literally disposable phones," Ashcroft said, investigators need to be able to seek permission to monitor any landline phone, cell phone or pager that a suspect uses, or to go through e-mail from any computer he works on. But once the roving tap is okayed, no judge would further oversee how it was carried out, leaving the FBI to decide...
Indeed, Congress is now reexamining legislation proposed last week by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft that would strengthen the Federal Government’s authority to wiretap phones, monitor e-mail and raid terrorists’ “financial infrastructure.” Congress is right to take a serious look at the long-term consequences of legislation now, rather than inviting future constitutional battles in the courts...
...proposed measures include strengthening the government’s power to wiretap telephones and to conduct search and seizure operations, as well as a proposal that would require everyone in the United States to carry identity cards. These so-called “smart cards” could contain travel logs or even fingerprinting information. Supposedly the government would use these identity cards to track suspected terrorists within the United States...