Top US lawmakers strike anti-terrorism powers deal

Updated at: 1143 PST, Friday, May 20, 2011
WASHINGTON: US Congress leaders have agreed to extend for four years an array of counter-terrorism surveillance and search powers adopted after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials said Thursday.

Under the arrangement, the Senate and House of Representatives will hold a vote next week on extending the controversial powers at the core of the Patriot Act before they lapse on May 27, according to several congressional aides.

The officials said the vote would be "a clean extension" to June 1, 2015, meaning it would not include new civil liberties safeguards sought by some senior lawmakers of both major parties.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached the accord with time running short before the provisions expire.

"The speaker supports this common-sense proposal because this law has been crucial to detecting and disrupting terrorist plots and protecting the American people," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

The measures allow authorities to use roving wiretaps to track an individual on several telephones; track a non-US national suspected of being "lone-wolf" terrorist not tied to an extremist group; and to seize "any tangible thing," such as personal or business records, seen as critical to an investigation.

US Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper urged top lawmakers in a January 28 letter to extend all three powers and complained of frequent short-term renewals.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, had called for limiting the government's abilities to use the various powers and greater scrutiny when they do, notably to protect against abuse or needless invasions of privacy.

The Senate is set to vote Monday at 5:00 pm (2100 GMT). It was not immediately clear when the House of Representatives would act. (AFP)