Government Seeks Expanded Powers to Plug Security Holes

The Bush administration, demanding immediate action to plug security holes left glaringly exposed by last week’s attacks, pushed Sunday for expanded emergency powers to track down terrorism suspects and fortify airports and airliners.

From tougher immigration restrictions to greater use of wiretaps on suspects in terrorism investigations, administration officials said the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon demonstrated the urgent need to enact measures that may rankle civil libertarians.

Terrorists “have declared war on the United States with an act of war,” Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said Sunday. “We consider it a responsibility to do everything within our power to those interests that threaten the United States . . . to end their capacity to do so.”

In an unusual series of bipartisan meetings Sunday at the FBI, Ashcroft previewed a package of far-reaching anti-terrorism proposals he plans to lay out this week in an effort to broaden the powers of the FBI and other federal agencies to fight terrorism.

The Justice Department wants Congress to authorize greater power for FBI agents to wiretap terrorism suspects, make it easier to detain and expel foreigners who associate with them, expand the government’s ability to trace money-laundering mechanisms used to finance them and stiffen penalties against those who provide haven to them, aides said.

Law enforcement officials have sought to broaden their powers in some of these areas before, only to meet resistance over civil liberties concerns. But in the current climate, lawmakers appear much more willing to swing the pendulum to the right in empowering law enforcement agents with broadened powers that were once unthinkable.

In another response to last week’s tragedy, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta on Sunday named two emergency advisory panels to offer recommendations by Oct. 1 on several pressing aviation security issues that have been studied for years.

The three-member panels--made up of five respected aviation figures and a former senior law enforcement official--will consider such issues as fortifying cockpit doors, expanding the air marshals program, fielding new technology to detect bombs and weapons, and federalizing and upgrading the minimum-wage work force that checks carry-on baggage.

“These are going to be action items,” Mineta said in promising quick measures. “I know there have been numerous past studies that have been undertaken, but what I expect now are the right answers.”

The issues that Mineta’s advisors will consider all involve trade-offs between security on the one hand and convenience, profits, technical considerations and even safety on the other.

One top priority will be reinforcing airplane cockpits.

The doors to the cockpits must be locked in flight, but they are generally flimsy and easy to kick in. However, as designed, the doors have several advantages. They make it simple to pressurize the cockpit along with the rest of cabin, and a rescuer can easily get through to help a pilot in an emergency. Their lightweight construction also saves the airlines money by making more space available in first class and reducing aircraft weight.

Peter Goelz, a former federal safety official who is a consultant, predicted transportation officials will end up requiring reinforced cockpits as a result of last week’s disasters, along with restrictions on when and for what reasons pilots can enter and leave.

“The most important thing that could come out of this is finally a move to a secure cockpit,” Goelz said. “We have to reconfigure the cockpit access so the doors are able to withstand any kind of effort to get in. Sure, there are going to be trade-offs. But do you want somebody to kick your door down and fly your plane into a building?”

More controversial may be Ashcroft’s efforts to strengthen the federal government’s power to act against terrorism suspects, a plan he will send to Congress as early as Thursday. While the Justice Department did not release details of the plan, lawmakers from both parties praised the idea of giving federal agents broadened powers and promised swift action.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said after meeting with Ashcroft that Congress would give the federal government “all the tools that are necessary to stamp out terrorism in our country.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an occasional critic of the attorney general, said Ashcroft has “handled this very, very well” and “has shown restraint” in deciding how best to respond.

But some liberal groups and civil libertarians warned against an overreaction to last week’s events, likening the mood to that seen after Pearl Harbor, when the U.S. interned tens of thousands of Japanese Americans.

Giving the government overly broad and even abusive powers “is a very common reaction in times of fear,” said David Cole, a Georgetown University constitutional law professor who has written a book on terrorism and civil liberties.

“The danger here is that we sacrifice fundamental civil liberties without any true gain in terms of security,” he said. “I haven’t heard anyone in law enforcement say that the reason they missed the Sept. 11 incident was because they were suffering under too restrictive a legal regimen governing their investigative powers. And until that case is made, it’s not clear why we should be giving them even broader powers.”

But Leahy and Hatch said Congress will be mindful of civil liberties concerns. “Nobody wants to trample on the Constitution,” Hatch told reporters.

One of Ashcroft’s concerns is the ability of law enforcement agents to wiretap and trace the communications of terrorism suspects.

Law enforcement officials complain they often do not have the same investigative tools and penalties in fighting terrorists as they do in combating drug traffickers, organized crime and other high-profile criminals. And they say that even with authorization from the courts, agents have found it more and more difficult to trace the activities of terrorists in an age of disposable phones bought at convenience stores and other high-tech advancements.

One answer, Ashcroft and aides said, is to authorize agents to trace and wiretap a person, rather than a phone, as is the standard. The attorney general also wants to make it easier for a court to give agents the ability to trace a suspect’s telephonic and computer activities in one fell swoop.

Ashcroft’s plans for toughened immigration measures aimed at terrorism will also draw scrutiny.

Aides to the attorney general would say only that Ashcroft wants to strengthen the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s ability to detain and remove foreigners from the country if they are shown to have links to terrorists.

Some immigration experts speculate that the Bush administration could consider invoking Section 215 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, giving the president the authority to restrict the exit and entry of any foreign nationals.

Another possibility, experts say, is for the administration to try to revise a 1996 law that sought to better track the arrivals and departures of foreign nationals. It also could revive a World War II era law requiring foreign nationals to register with the government.

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Times staff writers Patrick J. McDonnell and Robert L. Jackson contributed to this report.