FC: Transcript of Ashcroft-Mueller 9/17 remarks on wiretap bill

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

Attorney General John Ashcroft Remarks
Press Briefing with FBI Director Robert Mueller
FBI headquarters
September 17, 2001

ASHCROFT: The investigation into Tuesday's attack is still moving 
vigorously. I want to express my appreciation to thousands of agents and 
support staff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who are literally 
working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, following leads in the 
investigation. Their work has been excellent. I join the American people in 
thanking them for their dedication to the country.  A number of tips and 
potential leads coming into the FBI have been very substantial. We've 
received helpful leads from both the 1-800 number and the web site and are 
grateful for the American people in their participation in this 
investigation to date.
To date, the hotline has received more than 7,700 phone calls, the web site 
47,000 potential leads. Let me repeat, those two resources are important 
for us and for the public. Any member of the public that has information 
that may be helpful to the investigation, please call, 1-866-483-5137. The 
toll free calling number is, 1-866-483-5137. Or you can reach at the 
Internet, at www.ifbccfbi.gov.
In an effort to assist the FBI with manpower, I have directed the 
U.S.  Marshals Service to assign more than 300 deputy marshals to provide 
needed assistance to FBI field offices.
ASHCROFT: These deputy marshals will be assigned to the various locations 
across the country to augment and enhance the ongoing investigation and the 
responsibility we have.
While the FBI has always had a law enforcement presence in the air, the 
Department of Transportation has decided to expand our country's law 
enforcement capacities in that respect. Each day, as flights increase, we 
will be adding additional enforcement officials from the Department of 
Justice as air marshals on planes in addition to the already heightened 
security on the ground in airports. These additional law enforcement 
officials from various federal agencies are being assigned to the FAA to 
ensure aircraft passenger safety.
Yesterday I met with several members of the House and Senate leadership, 
including the leadership of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. FBI 
Director Mueller and I discussed with them the current threat assessment, 
including our believe that associates of the hijackers that have ties to 
terrorist organizations may be a continuing presence in the United 
States.  This threat assessment has helped us to identify several areas 
where we should strengthen our laws to increase the ability of the 
Department of Justice and its component agencies to identify, prevent and 
punish terrorism.
ASHCROFT: The meetings we had were very productive. And I'm optimistic that 
we will be able to act quickly to provide law enforcement with the 
additional tools that are necessary to fight terrorism. I was encouraged by 
the members support and their pledge to work as members of the Congress 
with the Department of Justice to move this agenda of anti-terrorism 
legislation forward.
In the next few days, we intend to finalize a package of legislative 
measures that will be comprehensive. Areas covered include criminal 
justice, immigration, intelligence gathering and financial 
infrastructure.  While the final details are still being discussed, I can 
highlight a few of the items that we will address in the proposal.
Under intelligence gathering, we want to provide additional tools to 
collect intelligence on terrorists, including expanded electronic 
surveillance, search authority and the ability to identify, cease and 
forfeit terrorist assets.
Two specific changes we have proposed include: First, current law requires 
us to obtain a wiretap for a phone number. It does not allow us to obtain a 
wiretap authority for an individual. Well, with the advances in technology, 
we need to make sure that our laws are also advancing. We're proposing that 
we provide wiretaps so that you can assign the wiretap to the individual, 
so that we can gain intelligence from individuals who use multiple 
telephones and changing cellular phones that move around with 
individuals.  ASHCROFT: You understand that assigning the authority only to 
the hardware means that when a person changes hardware, we lose our 
capacity to surveil.  And given the nature and availability of literally 
disposable telephones in modern society, we need to be able to have the 
court authority to monitor, not the phone, but the telephone communications 
of a person and to have that authority stay with the person.
Second, current law requires that we obtain a separate wiretap in each 
jurisdiction of the country where an investigation is being pursued. We 
would like to change the law so that one wiretap approval can be obtained 
for all jurisdictions working on an investigation, particularly given the 
mobility of individuals and the capacity of individuals who are mobile to 
communicate. This is a reasonable upgrade in our opportunity to help us 
curtail and combat the threat.
I want to assure you that in our effort to make sure that law enforcement 
can gain the intelligence that it needs in order to protect America, we are 
also mindful of our responsibility to protect the rights and privacy of 
Americans.
Within the area of criminal justice, we want to make sure that our laws 
convey the seriousness of the crime of terrorism.  ASHCROFT: First, we want 
to eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecution of terrorism 
crimes. Second, we feel it is imperative to make sure that terrorism is 
made the same kind of priority that we would be able to fight with the same 
kind of integrity and equally strong tools that other crimes are subjected to.
For example, we are identifying instances where the law currently makes it 
easier to prosecute drug trafficking and organized crime or espionage than 
it is to prosecute terrorism. If terrorism has not had a priority in the 
criminal justice system previously, it's time for us to understand that it 
needs to be a priority in the criminal justice system now. Let me give you 
two examples we have for increasing the penalties and elevating our 
capacity to deal with terrorism.
A person who harbors a person involved in espionage is subject to stiffer 
penalties than a person who harbors an individual involved in terrorism. We 
think this reflects an inadequate response to the kind of threat that 
terrorism poses to our culture.
Within financial infrastructure, it is important to have an understanding 
in our laws of the result of offering financial support to a 
terrorist.  Understanding will not only give us the ability to adequately 
punish those who assist terrorists, but also move toward dismantling the 
infrastructure of terrorist organizations.
We are proposing making providing material support or resources to a 
terrorist organization an offense that would enable us to prosecute someone 
under the money laundering statutes.
ASHCROFT: Now, we will be working diligently over the next day or maybe two 
to finalize this comprehensive proposal, and we will call upon the Congress 
of the United States to enact these important antiterrorism measures this 
week. We need these tools to fight the terrorism threat which exists in the 
United States, and we must meet that growing threat.  Now, I call upon 
Director Mueller for remarks.
MUELLER: Good afternoon.
Before I spend a moment discussing the current investigation, I want to 
talk briefly about another area of the FBI's responsibilities, and that 
relates to civil rights.
Since the horrific attacks on September 11, dozens of retaliatory hate 
crimes have been directed at members of the Arab-American community, 
including assaults, arson, threatening communications and two possibly-and 
I say "possibly"-ethnically motivated murders. Many of these criminal acts 
have been directed at Muslim houses of worship and at Muslim community centers.
I want to make it very clear: Vigilante attacks and threats against 
Arab-Americans will not be tolerated. We are all saddened by the recent 
acts of terrorism against our nation. Such acts of retaliation violate 
federal law and, more particularly, run counter to the very principles of 
equality and freedom upon which our nation is founded.  MUELLER: The FBI 
and the Department of Justice are committed to aggressively investigating 
and prosecuting violations of the federal hate crime laws. We, to date, 
have initiated 40 hate crimes investigations, involving reported attacks on 
Arab American citizens and institutions. And we are working with the 
Department of Justice to review other incidents to see if federal 
violations have taken place. I might also add that the FBI is reaching out 
to leaders of the Arab American community in each of our 56 field offices 
across the country.
One another note before we discuss briefly this investigation. I want to 
announce that the FBI is again calling upon the support and assistance of 
the American people. We are actively seeking and recruiting 
English-speaking individuals with a professional level of proficiency in 
Arabic and Farsi.
Those who would wish to join must be American citizens who have been 
permanent residents of the United States for at least three of the last 
five years. Each of these individuals who would seek to be employed by the 
FBI will be evaluated based on experience and education, and must pass a 
thorough background investigation and a language proficiency 
examination.  We ask that anyone who is interested in this and has the 
proficiency to call 1-866-483-5137, and let me repeat that: 1-866-483-5137. 
Call that number or check the FBI website at www.fbi.gov.  MUELLER: Now, 
turning to the ongoing investigation, I'll say that we now have 500 
personnel here in FBI headquarters, representative of 32 agencies, federal, 
state and local, working 24 hours a day coordinating the investigation 
across the country, and I should say also internationally, because we have 
more than 30 FBI legat offices across the world involved in the investigation.
The AG-attorney general-already mentioned that we've had 47,000 Internet 
tips. Our hotline has produced 7,800 tips. In addition to that, we've had 
in excess of 26,000 leads generated through the various field offices.  I 
might finish up by saying that we have, in the course of questioning a 
number of individuals throughout the country, we have 49 individuals who 
are currently being detained by the Immigration Service because of some 
concerns about the status of those individuals in the country.  And with 
that, I think the attorney general and I would be happy to answer questions.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) is that why you're looking for people who speak Arabic 
and Farsi?
MUELLER: We have had a language shortage for a period of time. I don't 
think it would be just the FBI; I think it's a number of federal 
agencies.  And we feel at this point in time we can use the additional 
manpower helping us with the language issues.
QUESTION: Director, how many people have you arrested on material witness 
lines or otherwise?
MUELLER: I cannot and will not give you the total numbers on material 
witness warrants. Suffice it to say that there are a number of material 
witness warrants that have been issued. They are sealed in most cases, and 
I cannot give you direct numbers.
QUESTION: Director, why can't you give us those direct numbers?
MUELLER: They're under seal. A number of the warrants are under 
seal.  QUESTION: Could you at least characterize the level of cooperation 
at this point from the people that you've detained and also the people who 
are in INS custody, if you're talking to them and if they've been providing 
valuable information?
MUELLER: Well, it's hard to generalize. There are individuals cooperating, 
yes. There are a number of individuals that are not cooperating.  Next 
question? Yes, sir?
QUESTION: Are any of you aware of reports that there have been names on 
watch lists in which there have been gaps in time before CIA information is 
passed along to the FAA or the FBI or the INS? Could you talk a little bit 
about how that process works and what is an acceptable amount of time 
before the word gets to these various security agencies?  MUELLER: Well, I 
know there is talk of one incident in which individuals have come into the 
country and subsequent to their arrival in the country, they are put on a 
watch list. And when we're talking about a watch list, in this 
circumstance, we're talking about the watch list at the borders, so that 
somebody seeking to gain entry to the United States goes through 
immigration, and the name pops up.
There is an incident where a name had been passed on, and the person was 
already in the country, and the FBI sought to find that individual or 
individuals. One finds that when they fill out the cards at the border, 
they can put down "Marriott, New York City." And as everybody knows, there 
are a number of Marriotts in New York City-or Sheraton, Detroit or Los Angeles.
And when we're passed a name and required to find the individual and we 
have no identify data other than a hotel or motel, we do the obvious thing 
and go to either Marriott or Sheraton or the other hotel chain and have 
them run all the hotels in that vicinity. But it is very difficult quite 
often to find somebody once they're in the country.  Yes, sir?
QUESTION: Just a follow-up to that. Were warning signs missed that might 
have played a part in this, not only in San Diego, but also in Minnesota in 
the weeks before the attacks?
MUELLER: There were no warning signs that I'm aware of that would indicate 
this type of operation in the country.
Yes?
QUESTION: We're hearing a number of complaints from the Arab American 
community that the FBI is targeting people, questioning people based solely 
on their ethnic background. Can you address that?  MUELLER: Absolutely. And 
thank you for raising that. If that is a perception out there, I would like 
to disspell it.
MUELLER: It is wrong. When we seek to interview and question an individual, 
we are doing so based on predications that the individual may have 
information relating to the acts that took place last week. We do not, have 
not, will not target people based solely on their ethnicity, period, point 
blank.
Yes, ma'am?
QUESTION: Could you elaborate on what specific change there was or 
technical capabilities will be necessary to tap and monitor disposal (OFF-MIKE)
MUELLER: Talking specifically about the telephones, as we mentioned, a 
piece of legislation would enable us to obtain wiretap authority for an 
individual regardless of-whether he buys a cell phone on day one and a week 
later buys another cell phone with another number and moves from cell phone 
to cell phone seeking to avoid interception. That's a key piece of 
legislation that would be very helpful to us in monitoring conversations of 
those we suspect or know to be terrorists.
Yes, sir?
QUESTION: Thank you. Where are these two murders that you think are 
racially inspired?
MUELLER: I'm not going to discuss any of the facts about that. As I said-I 
said "possibly inspired."
Thank you very much.





-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------