Democrats Blast Ashcroft Surveillance Plan

By: Mark Benjamin

Democrats in the House and Senate blasted Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday for secretly drafting a wish list of new surveillance powers that critics said would crush constitutional guarantees of civil liberty.

The Justice Department has quietly drafted its own proposed changes to the October 2001 USA Patriot Act designed to improve the government's authority to battle terrorism at home.

But if passed by Congress, critics said, the proposal would further limit public access to information and expand spy powers.

Ranking Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees shot off letters on Monday to Ashcroft complaining that his unilateral effort would hurt bipartisan efforts on terrorism and undermine trust in government on important constitutional matters.

"The early signals from the administration about its intentions for this bill are ominous", said Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-VT. "For months, and as recently as just last week, Justice Department officials have denied to members of the Judiciary Committee that they were drafting another anti-terrorism package. There still has not been any hint from them about their draft bill."

The 87-page document, Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, marked "CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION", is dated Jan. 9, 2003. It contains a list of proposed changes to the landmark anti-terrorism bill passed in the emotional weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

It was first obtained by the Center for Public Integrity last Friday. Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said then that the document reflected an "ongoing discussion draft" and that "department staff have not presented any final proposals to either the Attorney General or the White House".

A Justice Department legislative "control sheet" obtained by the PBS program Now With Bill Moyers appears to show that the document was sent to Vice President Dick Cheney and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL.

"The department's handling of this matter has only lent credence to suggestions that this administration is intent on using the war on terrorism as a partisan political tool and the Justice Department is waiting to spring this bill on the Congress when the nation once again has endured a terrorist attack or is in the midst of war", wrote House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, D-MI.

Justice Department officials didn't return calls seeking comment Monday.

Civil libertarians also blasted the substance of the draft as a serious erosion of constitutional guarantees. The bill has a series of aggressive new provisions, according to reviews by civil libertarians.

• The government would have new power to deport non-citizens even if those citizens hadn't committed an immigration violation.
  
  
• The bill would restrict public access to the risks posed by accidents at industrial facilities that companies are currently required to file under the Clean Air Act.
  
  
• The U.S. Attorney General would gain new authority to conduct wiretaps for 15 days with no court oversight if Congress authorized a use of force or the President declared an emergency.
  
  
• Consent decrees that prohibit local police from engaging in spying could be eliminated.
  
  
• Changes would explicitly restrict public access to information about government detainees under the Freedom of Information Act.
  
  
• The government would get the power to collect DNA samples, fingerprints, and other identification information "from any suspected terrorist". The government would also get more power in court to use secret evidence.
  

Civil libertarians have become more worried as they studied the proposal, according to American Civil Liberties Union Legislative Counsel Tim Edgar. "We are becoming more and more distrustful of the erosions in basic constitutional checks and balances", he said.