- WASHINGTON (UPI) - Attorney
General John Ashcroft says he will order U.S. law enforcement to immediately
use broad new police powers contained in an anti-terrorism bill once it
becomes law.
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- "History's judgment will be harsh ... if we fail
to use every available resource to prevent future terrorist attacks,"
the attorney general said Thursday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "...
Our enemies now have new reason to fear."
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- Congress is expected to deliver the bill to President
Bush today. The president is expected to sign the legislation into law
immediately.
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- Civil libertarians have pledged to challenge some of
the new law's provisions in court on constitutional grounds.
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- Ashcroft said once the bill has Bush's signature, he
will order the 94 U.S. attorney's office and the 56 FBI field offices in
the United States to begin implementing its provisions.
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- Citing the war against organized crime under then-Attorney
General Robert Kennedy, Ashcroft said the current Justice Department has
adopted the same tactics against terrorism.
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- 'We Will Use All Our Weapons'
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- "Let the terrorists among us be warned," Ashcroft
said. "If you overstay your visa, even by one day, we will arrest
you. If you violate a local law, you will be put in jail and kept in custody
as long as possible.
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- "We will use every available statute. We will seek
every prosecutorial advantage. We will use all our weapons within the
law and under the Constitution to protect life and enhance security for
America."
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- Ashcroft suggested that the Justice Department, which
has charged no one directly in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, believes some
of those arrested on minor charges since then might be terrorists.
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- "To date, our anti-terrorism offensive has arrested
or detained nearly 1,000 individuals as part of the Sept. 11 terrorism
investigation," Ashcroft said. "Those who violated the law remain
in custody. Taking suspected terrorists in violation of the law off the
streets and keeping them locked up is our clear strategy to prevent terrorism
within our borders."
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- As for the new police powers contained in the legislation
headed for Bush's desk, "a new era in America's fight against terrorism,
made tragically necessary by the attacks of Sept. 11, is about to begin,"
Ashcroft said.
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- The attorney general said he would seek court-ordered
wiretaps on communications "related to an expanded list of crimes
under the legislation. Communications regarding terrorist offenses such
as the use of biological or chemical agents, financing acts of terrorism
or materially supporting terrorism will be subject to interception by law
enforcement."
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- Ashcroft said the department would immediately begin
seeking "roving" wiretaps of suspected terrorists. Previously,
federal judges could authorize wiretaps on a particular telephone number
in a particular jurisdiction. Under the new legislation, judges can order
wiretaps against an individual, and the FBI can conduct surveillance on
that individual on any phone in any jurisdiction.
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- Focus on Internet
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- "Investigators will be directed to pursue aggressively
terrorists on the Internet," Ashcroft said. "New authority in
the legislation permits the use of devices that capture senders' and receivers'
addresses associated with communications on the Internet.
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- "Law enforcement will begin immediately to seek
search warrants to obtain unopened voice mail stored on a computer, just
as they traditionally have used search warrants to obtain unopened e-mail.
They will also begin to use new subpoena power to obtain payment information
such as credit card or bank account numbers of suspected terrorists on
the Internet."
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- Ashcroft appeared to be anticipating challenges from
civil libertarians against some provisions of the new legislation, but
said the provisions were necessary.
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- "Some will ask whether a civilized nation, a nation
of law and not of men, can use the law to defend itself from barbarians
and remain civilized," Ashcroft said. "Our answer, unequivocally,
is 'Yes.' Yes, we will defend civilization, and yes, we will preserve the
rule of law because it makes us civilized."
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- Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
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- All rights reserved.
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