US President George W. Bush signed new anti-terror laws on Friday aggressively expanding the US government's power to hold immigrants without charges, eavesdrop on electronic communications and crack money laundering schemes.
"Today, we take an essential step in defeating terrorism while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans," Bush said in a White House ceremony. "This government will enforce this law with all the urgency of a nation at war."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Crafted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the US, the legislation enhances the ability of federal authorities to tap phones, share intelligence information, track Internet usage, e-mails and cellphones and protect US borders.
"The changes effective today will help counter a threat like no other our nation has faced," Bush said, with Vice President Dick Cheney standing at his side in a rare joint public appearance since US-led air strikes on Afghanistan almost three weeks ago.
Bush came close to blaming Osama bin Laden and his hosts, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, not only for the Sept. 11 suicide plane attacks that killed almost 5,000 people but also for a spate of anthrax-laced letters that has killed three people.
"We've seen the enemy in the murder of thousands of innocents, unsuspecting people. They recognize no barrier of morality. They have no conscience. The terrorists cannot be reasoned with," Bush said. "Witness the recent anthrax attacks through our postal service."
The USA Patriot Act of 2001 Bill was proposed five days after the attacks on New York and Washington. The final version was approved by the Senate 98-1 on Thursday, 24 hours after it cleared the House of Representatives 357-66.
Major legislation traditionally takes several months if not years to be approved. This one one streaked through Congress in less than six weeks at the urging of the Bush administration, but critics say it poses a threat to civil liberties.
"One thing is for certain: These terrorists must be pursued, they must be defeated, and they must be brought to justice. And that is the purpose of this legislation," Bush said as Cabinet members, senators and the directors of the CIA and FBI directors looked on.
Bush said the legislation struck an appropriate balance between protecting civil liberties and ensuring that law enforcement could do the job.
"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," he said. "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."
Saying the FBI and others had been hampered by laws written "in the era of rotary telephones," Bush said the measure he signed would "allow surveillance of all communications used by terrorists including e-mails, the Internet and cellphones."
The bill was a bipartisan compromise. It denied the Bush administration the right to detain indefinitely immigrants suspected of involvement in terrorism. As a built-in safeguard against future abuses of the war-time law, the authority for expanded surveillance of computers and telephones will expire after four years unless renewed by Congress.
"The elected branches of our government and both political parties are united in our resolve to find and stop and punish those who would do harm to the American people," Bush said.
Regardless of the changes, the American Civil Liberties Union remained dissatisfied, and warned that many of the provisions could be used to trample civil liberties.
"We will be keeping a close eye on how these new powers are used by the administration," said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU's national office in Washington.
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