IN THE NEWS - Spying Limits in U.S. Eased to Fight Terror

IN THE NEWS - June 1, 2002: Spying Limits in U.S. Eased to Fight Terror

By Avi Arditti
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program IN THE NEWS.

The Justice Department has approved new powers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation 1 to spy inside the
United States.

On Thursday, Attorney General John Ashcroft eased restrictions 2 on the F-B-I in an effort to prevent terrorist
attacks. The restrictions began in the nineteen-seventies, in reaction to demands for reforms of the agency.

Agents now will have more freedom to gather information from the Internet and
libraries to search for possible terrorists. They will have more power to collect
information on religious and political organizations. The new guidelines will permit
agents to go anywhere the public can go, including religious centers.

Civil rights groups say the changes threaten privacy and free speech rights. The
American Civil Liberties Union says the rewritten guidelines will do little to make
Americans safer, but will make them less free. Muslim groups also expressed
concern.

On Wednesday, F-B-I Director Robert Mueller announced a reorganization of the agency. Mister Mueller said
the first duty of the F-B-I will be to protect the United States from terrorist attack. The F-B-I is hiring more
agents. It also is to work more closely with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Mister Mueller agreed this week that the F-B-I might have had enough information
to lead agents to those involved in the September eleventh terrorist attacks. The
hijacked 3 planes crashed into New York City, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

Next week, Congress will begin hearings. There has been criticism that officials
missed warning signs. Last July, an F-B-I agent in Phoenix 4, Arizona, had urged
headquarters to investigate some Middle Eastern men training at American flight
schools. Agent Kenneth Williams said the men might be linked to Osama bin 5 Laden 6.

The F-B-I has also been criticized about the case of the only person charged in the
attacks of September eleventh. Zacarias Moussaoui has been in jail since August. A flight school in Minnesota
had become suspicious of him and called the F-B-I. Officials arrested the French citizen on immigration charges.

Recently, the F-B-I director got a letter from Coleen Rowley. She is a lawyer and F-B-I agent in Minnesota. She
says bureau officials had blocked efforts to further investigate Mister Moussaoui. Officials now believe he was
training to be the twentieth hijacker 7.

The attacks killed more than three-thousand people, most of them at the World Trade Center. New York City
held a ceremony Thursday at the huge hole known as ground zero to mark the clearing of the ruins.

A truck carried away the last big piece of steel. An emergency vehicle carried an American flag to honor the
victims whose remains 8 have not been found. Then, as a crowd of thousands watched, firefighters, police officers
and clean-up workers silently marched out in a long line.

This VOA Special English program IN THE NEWS was written by Avi Arditti. This is Steve Ember.

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