Bill prompts freedom vs. security debate

A Bush administration bill authored by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is causing consternation among civil libertarians, but almost everyone can agree on parts of it.

It's called the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act, and it was written to rid American crime fighters of rotary phone and post office laws in a cell phone and Internet age.

As it stands, our laws governing searches and investigations favor the criminals. For example, the part of Ashcroft's bill getting the most support is one that would eliminate the need for FBI investigators to obtain new wiretapping authority from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. As it stands, they must go from judge to judge in various districts to obtain wiretapping warrants as suspects travel across the country. Or the warrants may only be good for one phone number but not another. It's simply not practical when terrorists can use several cell phones in a day.

Ashcroft's law would allow wiretapping authority to follow the suspect, not the phone.

It also would increase the penalties for harboring a terrorist and make it easier to seize suspected terrorists' assets.

Other parts of the proposal deserve closer attention. These, skeptics say, could bleed over from investigation of terrorists and affect law-abiding Americans. Ashcroft, however, has issued assurances that they would not.

The legislation changes the definition for terrorists, giving the U.S. Immigration and NaturalizationService the authority to detain non-citizens indefinitely and deport them for almost any reason.

Part of what has made America the admirable democracy it is are laws that put limits on how long a person can be imprisoned without clear evidence.

Certainly, we don't want the statement Ashcroft made to the House Judiciary Committee this week to continue to be the case. "I regret to inform you that we are today sending our troops into the modern field of battle with antique weapons," he told committee members. "It is not a prescription for victory."

And Missourians who came to know Ashcroft when he was governor and senator know that he is a wise and just man who wants to protect our rights. But he wants especially to protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by shutting down evil men who would endanger it.

Still, it is appropriate that the media and the rest of the public be alert as this legislation progresses so the protections that have made this country the best in the world are not unnecessarily eroded.