From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 07:39:04 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Looks like they may actually pass something... hell.
Message-ID: <01I7RLJW5WHK8Y4XIK@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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	I had hoped that normal government incompetence would prevent them from
passing something. Well, there's still hope that it'll get clogged up, or that
the courts will toss it out - somehow I think they won't like the idea of
taps without a court order, for instance (giving up a judicial prerogative). I
am also somewhat puzzled by the racketeering law reference - I had thought that
federal racketeering laws allowed civil forfeiture sans conviction (shudder)?
The "funding" for telephone companies sounds suspiciously like funding Digital
Telephony.
	-Allen

>   School House
   
>         WHITE HOUSE, KEY LAWMAKERS AGREE ON ANTI-TERRORISM PROPOSALS

>      Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net
>      Copyright &copy 1996 The Associated Press
      
>   WASHINGTON (Aug 1, 1996 09:53 a.m. EDT) -- After wrangling with key
>   Republican lawmakers, the White House has won agreement on a package
>   of anti-terrorism measures that would expand wiretapping authority and
>   tighten airport security.
   
[...]

>   But omitted from the agreement was a central part of Clinton's
>   proposals, a study of chemical markers in explosives, called taggants,
>   which had been heavily criticized by some Republicans. Also rejected
>   was a provision to allow the FBI to get information on suspected
>   terrorists from hotels, telephone companies and storage facilities.
   
[...]

   The agreement also would allow prosecution of suspected terrorists
   under federal racketeering laws, which would make anyone convicted
   subject to asset forfeitures and longer sentences.
   
>   The negotiators, led by Panetta and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said
>   they hoped to have a package ready for a vote by week's end, before
>   Congress leaves for its August recess.
   
>   But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said earlier in the
>   day that final passage before the recess appeared unlikely. "I don't
>   see how in the world we can get it done" by then, Lott told reporters.
   
>   Lott and other GOP leaders summoned Attorney General Janet Reno,
>   Panetta and FBI Director Louis Freeh to a meeting today to explain why
>   some of the FBI's anti-terrorism funds haven't been spent.
   
>   "We are increasingly concerned that monies and authorities already
>   granted to the administration are not being used effectively or at
>   all," Lott, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and House Majority
>   Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to Clinton.
   
>   Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said the Republican
>   assertions were "misleading."
   
>   Gingrich and Lott also proposed that a blue-ribbon commission review
>   the government's anti-terrorism policy -- a move that would delay
>   congressional action. The new package includes such a commission for
>   longer-term legislative proposals, Craig said.
   
>   He said the lawmakers' aides planned to work through the night to
>   draft the proposals into a package that could be put to a vote before
>   week's end.
   
>   "I feel very positive at this moment," Craig told reporters Wednesday
>   night.
   
>   Craig said the proposals included multipoint wiretaps, which allow law
>   enforcement agents to monitor all phone calls made by a suspected
>   terrorist, rather than just those from a specific telephone, as well
>   as emergency wiretaps, which are valid for 48 hours without a court
>   order.
   
[... yeah, right]

>   Craig stressed that the new wiretap provisions would include "some
>   privacy language that will protect people."
   
>   Other proposals on which accord was reached include the use of special
>   technology to make it easier to trace telephone numbers called by
>   suspected terrorists and a trust fund to reimburse phone companies for
>   expenses they incur in that area.
   
>   Craig listed the proposals but gave few details, which had yet to be
>   worked out.
   
>    Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net