WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Six weeks after the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, President Bush on Friday signed into law a measure giving law enforcement agencies expanded authority to wiretap telephones and examine Internet usage.
"We're dealing with terrorists who operate by highly sophisticated methods and technologies, some of which were not even available when our existing laws were written," the president said during an East Room signing ceremony. "The bill before me takes account of the new realities and dangers posed by modern terrorists.
"It will help law enforcement to identify, to dismantle, to disrupt and to punish terrorists before they strike.".
Bush signed the bill surrounded by congressional leaders who helped craft the legislation in answer to the Sept. 11 terror attacks in which hijackers turned airliners into flying bombs that leveled the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon outside of Washington, killing some 6,000. A fourth airliner, which authorities believe was headed for either the White House or U.S. Capitol, crashed in rural Pennsylvania after an apparent counterattack by passengers.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved the measure, 98-1, a day after it cleared the U.S. House of Representatives, 357-66.
"This bill met with overwhelming, overwhelming agreement in Congress, because it upholds and respects the civil liberties guaranteed by our Constitution," Bush said. "This legislation is essential not only to pursuing and punishing terrorists, but also preventing more atrocities in the hands of the evil ones. This government will enforce this law with all the urgency of a nation at war."
The measure allows expanded surveillance of electronic mail, Internet and cellphone transmissions, rewriting laws that were first crafted in the era of rotary telephones. It will also extend the reach of federal search warrants, making them valid across all district and state lines. Previously, law enforcement officials were required to obtain a new warrant in different jurisdictions.
Bush said the new legislation also would enhance penalties for terrorists or anyone who assists them. The measure also provides harsher penalties for possession of biological weapons and makes it easier for federal authorities to seize the assets of individuals or groups engaged in terrorism.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told reporters after the ceremony that lawmakers were concerned about the original form of the legislation and moved to change two things: a section dealing with bioterrorism, and a four-year "sunset" provision requiring Congress to completely reauthorize the bill."
"I think that we have got to stop thinking about the Dillinger and Willie Sutton days of law enforcement and start thinking of the realities of 2001, because no matter what terror attacks we face today, we're going to face more next year and the year after and the year after and the year after," Leahy said.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., R-Wis., said the new law also creates an office within the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate questions of alleged civil liberties violations.
"So the Justice Department is going to have a cop on the beat there making sure that the Constitution and the laws are obeyed, Sensenbrenner said.
The bill signing came as the Bush administration ends its third week struggling with the fallout of a series of anthrax-tainted letters in a case of bioterrorism that so far has killed one Florida man and two Washington area postal workers.
Thousands of people have been tested for exposure to the pathogen including White House mailroom workers whose off-site processing center was found contaminated with anthrax.
