Acts of revision EDITORIAL 637 Words 05 August 2003 St. Petersburg Times 0 SOUTH PINELLAS 6A Less than 24 hours after its disclosure, a proposed Pentagon program establishing a futures market in predicting terrorist attacks crashed and burned. Despite claims by the program's defenders that the market would provide valuable information on future terror attacks, members of Congress thought it was a terrible idea and said so. Amid the controversy, Dr. John Poindexter, the leader of the defense agency sponsoring the program, agreed to resign. Lawmakers, it seems, are finally starting to peek out from the rock they have been hiding behind since the attacks of Sept. 11. Attorney General John Ashcroft had cowed them with his warning that anyone who questions the administration's antiterrorism campaign risks undermining it. But slowly, thanks in part to growing public concern about some provisions of the USA Patriot Act and recent Justice Department inspector general reports indicating that the FBI abused its power in the aftermath of the attacks, there is a new willingness on the part of lawmakers to turn a critical eye to the excesses of the administration's war on terrorism. Bills in Congress aimed at modifying some of the worst provisions of the Patriot Act and other antiterrorism programs suggest that the legislative branch is starting to take its oversight responsibilities seriously. The House and Senate appear ready to scrap or sharply limit another Poindexter project. Both chambers have included provisions in the Defense Department's appropriation bill restrict the development of Poindexter's Terrorism Information Awareness program (formerly known as Total Information Awareness). TIA is a computer system designed to troll through huge databases of personal information looking for transactional behavior indicative of terrorist planning. Congress has already barred the program from spying on Americans, but that restriction will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The House version of the bill would renew the constraint, and the Senate version - which passed unanimously - would eliminate TIA entirely by defunding it. The conference committee is expected to take up the issue in September. The "Citizens' Protection in Federal Databases Act of 2003'' aims to provide further protection from snooping by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. It would impose limits on the way the federal government may utilize sensitive data collected by the public sector or private industry. Under the legislation sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, federal agencies would be prohibited from fishing through medical records, credit card purchases and other records unless the search was tied to a specific investigation. Congress also is considering other changes in the Patriot Act. Last month, the House voted to prevent the Justice Department from spending any money to conduct secret "sneak and peek'' searches of private property. The measure was sponsored by Idaho Republican Rep. C.L. "Butch'' Otter and passed overwhelmingly. Sneak and peek searches allow federal agents to secretly enter homes and, unlike typical criminal warrants, delay informing suspects until much later. In the Senate, meanwhile, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has offered the "Protecting the Rights of Individuals Act,'' which is designed to return accountability to federal surveillance. Under one provision in the bill, Congress would have to authorize all data-mining programs and judges would regain some oversight authority over FBI searches of sensitive records. These are just some of the legislative attempts to adjust the balance between security and civil liberties. It is heartening to see the initiatives coming from both sides of the aisle. Some of these proposals might even have a reasonable chance at passage. The Patriot Act was rushed through Congress just weeks after the devastating terror attacks, with most lawmakers voting for the legislation before they had read it. Now that we know what is in the fine print, it is time to make revisions. Congress appears to finally be stepping up to that task. EDITORIALS