Next to the bad guys, perhaps the biggest danger to America last week was the government as Congress and President Clinton worked frantically to craft an anti-terrorism bill before lawmakers broke for a month-long August recess.
Luckily, cool heads did not prevail. Election-year politics won the day, and everyone was spared. The conditions were ideal for making law on a complex mix of constitutional and public policy issues based on passion rather than prudence.
Working in a crisis atmosphere, created by the pipe bomb blast in Centennial Olympic Park July 27 that led to two deaths and the TWA Flight 800 explosion July 17 that killed all 230 aboard, administration officials and a bipartisan group of lawmakers began last week at the White House united and committed to fighting terrorism.
Less than 24 hours later, the administration and Republican congressional leaders were squabbling about nine items Clinton wanted in the bill. The GOP had good and not-so-good reasons for resisting some of the initiatives sought by Clinton.
The two sides did agree on expanding FBI wiretap authority; that is, to allow roving, or multipoint, wiretaps so that law enforcement officials don’t need separate court orders to listen in on criminal suspects as they move from place to place and from wireline phone to wireless phone.
Had there not been partisan bickering, and GOP leaders simply rubber stamped Clinton’s anti-terrorism package, the balance of public safety and constitutional privacy could have been thrown way out of whack.
Mind you, Congress approved, and Clinton signed, anti-terrorism legislation in April. But expanded wiretap authority was stripped out as was funding for the 1994 digital telephony wiretap bill (CALEA), thanks to Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.).
It is easy to make Barr the heavy. He is leery of the FBI in the wake of Waco, Ruby Ridge and Filegate. Barr signed onto the House Commerce appropriations bill to establish a fund that law enforcement and intelligence agencies can contribute to once the FBI presents to Congress, and Congress reviews, a detailed plan to implement CALEA.
Barr’s concerns have some legitimacy. The wireless telecom industry has encountered CALEA implementation snags and, of course, there is a history that goes with FBI wiretaps.
Combating terrorism will take more than just improving the FBI’s wiretap ability. All the answers, certainly not good answers, were not going to come last week. Privacy is no more absolute than safety. But in a land of laws like ours there’s no reason we can’t have both. It is a delicate balance that cannot be struck in the heat of the moment.
