The US government has asked Congress to let prosecutors use information collected by foreign governments in ways that are unconstitutional in the US.
The administration of President George W. Bush also wants to let the FBI and other police agencies seize billing information like credit card numbers from Internet companies without a court order, according to a Justice Department analysis of the anti-terrorism legislative package it plans to submit today.
"In many cases, users register with Internet service providers using false names, making the form of payment critical to determining the user's true identity," said the analysis, which was provided in advance Wednesday to senators.
The department said in the documents it envisions that information obtained by foreign police agencies "will come to play a larger role in federal prosecutions" of terrorists. Still prohibited, it noted, would be the use in court of information gathered unconsitutionally overseas if US prosecutors participated in ordering the collection of it.
Ashcroft's legislation would allow the use of electronic surveillance gathered by foreign governments with methods that violate the US Consitution's protection against unreasonable search and seizure in American courts against American citizens.
Meanwhile, an unusual liberal-conservative alliance is decrying as an assault on civil liberties the changes in law being sought in response to the airliner hijackings.
"This proposal addresses issues that are well beyond the scope of fighting terrorism," said David Sobel of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Sobel's group is one of several that has signed a letter to lawmakers stating they should "resist the temptation to enact proposals in the mistaken belief that anything that may be called anti-terrorist will necessarily provide greater security."
Attorney General John Ashcroft, standing outside the site where one of the hijacked planes slammed into the Pentagon, said Wednesday he is deeply concerned about civil liberties.
But "we will not fail to use any tools that can promote apprehension and disruption of the networks that caused these damages and prevent similar recurrences in the future," he said.
The House's Judiciary Chairman, James Sensenbrenner, said he would hold hearings before moving the legislation. And Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy revealed that he was working on his own version of an anti-terrorist bill.
"We're trying to find a middle ground and I think we can," Leahy said after meeting with Ashcroft.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2