Carnivore Dispatched to Sniff Out Terrorists

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In response to Tuesday's terrorist attacks, the U.S. Senate has approved the FBI's use of the Carnivore e-mail surveillance system to investigate acts of terrorism and computer crimes. It also approved broader "wiretapping" of the Internet by law enforcement, and urges the government to "make better use of its considerable accomplishments in science and technology" to combat terrorism.

The measure, called the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001," is part of an amendment to the 2002 appropriations budget for the departments of Commerce, Justice and State and the Judiciary. It broadens existing law to include terrorism as one of the crimes that merits high-tech surveillance. All U.S. Attorneys would have the authority to order installation of Carnivore, a power previously reserved only for U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorneys General.

The act also authorizes a number of programs and initiatives aimed at preventing future terrorism. It urges the president to launch a research program that would study and recommend procedures to prevent, detect, and respond to "catastrophic terrorist attacks." A new or existing federal agency would oversee the program.

Speed Urged

"If we wait any longer [to grant law enforcement these powers] ... it is a big, big mistake," says bill sponsor Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), alluding to the week's events during the Senate's debate. The measure's co-sponsor is Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona).

"Millions of dollars are lost annually as a direct result of [computer crime], and it is no longer a fantasy that thousands of lives could be lost in future terrorist incidents," Hatch says.

Carnivore has drawn considerable criticism from privacy and civil liberties advocates who fear its use will severely encroach on civil rights of U.S. citizens. Since Tuesday's attacks, concerned groups have warned that the response to the crimes may include restrictions on civil liberties. They point out there is no evidence linking the attackers to the use of any high technology.

They have criticized use of Carnivore technology as unnecessarily intrusive. The FBI has resisted releasing specifics of the tool, which is installed at ISPs to monitor e-mail. The agency recently renamed the tool DCS1000, but it is still widely known as Carnivore.

Concerns Noted

Hatch sought to address some of those concerns on the Senate floor.

"We must also be careful that in our quest for vengeance we do not trample those very liberties which separate us as a society from those who want to destroy us," Hatch says in response to those concerns.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a cyber-rights group that has opposed high-tech surveillance, issued a statement Friday saying that "surrendering freedom will not purchase security" and that "open communications networks are a positive force in the fight against violence and intolerance."

The statement also urges both the president and Congress to proceed cautiously and calmly on such matters.

"If we give up the constitutional freedoms fundamental to our democratic way of life," the CDT writes, "then the terrorists will have won."