Washington ? President Bush, in a speech marking today’s anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, called on Congress Wednesday to “untie the hands of our law enforcement officials” by expanding authorities’ ability to probe and detain terrorism suspects.

Hailing the passage of the 2001 USA Patriot Act, which expanded federal police powers, Bush said those changes did not go far enough. He called for empowering authorities in terrorist investigations to issue subpoenas without going to grand juries, to hold suspects without bail and to pursue the death penalty in more cases.

“Under current federal law, there are unreasonable obstacles to investigating and prosecuting terrorism, obstacles that don’t exist when law enforcement officials are going after embezzlers or drug traffickers,” Bush said at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. “For the sake of the American people, Congress should change the law and give law enforcement officials the same tools they have to fight terror that they have to fight other crime.”

In endorsing an extension of the Patriot Act, Bush plunged into a contentious issue on the eve of the Sept. 11 remembrance, which Bush has proclaimed “Patriots Day.” By endorsing an expansion of police powers, the president put himself at odds with a number of Republican lawmakers who have joined Democrats in an effort to scale back part of the original Patriot Act.

Opponents said Bush, in launching the offensive, was seeking to blunt an effort to repeal the increased authority the administration won shortly after the 2001 attacks. “It’s clear the administration, now on the defensive, is trying to use offense as a defensive strategy,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The public is saying they’ve gone too far. Now you have the president and the attorney general asking for additional power.”

It was the first time Bush had advocated provisions beyond the Patriot Act, his aides said. In February, a draft of legislation being prepared by the administration included sweeping powers, including the ability to revoke citizenship of terrorism suspects, forbid the release of information about terrorism detainees, and set up a DNA database of people associated with terrorist groups. The House Judiciary Chairman, James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has said he told Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft then that it would be “extremely counterproductive” to pursue such “Patriot 2” legislation.

Bush aides said the proposals Bush backed Wednesday, parts of which had already been floating about Capitol Hill, were modest. Bush did not back a provision, suggested earlier by Ashcroft, to expand the authority to pursue those offering “material support” to suspected terrorist cells. But Bush spokesman Scott McClellan would not rule out the possibility that Bush would back further provisions in piecemeal fashion. “The president is always looking at ways … that we can better secure the homeland and make America safer, and that’s what this is about,” he said.

Justice officials Wednesday drew attention to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finding that only 21 percent of Americans thought the administration had gone “too far” in restricting civil liberties. Still, two-thirds said the government should not take anti-terrorism steps if those steps violate civil liberties.