LJWorld.com

Sen. Pat Roberts is leading an effort to expand the investigative powers of the federal government under a renewed version of the USA Patriot Act, a controversial anti-terror law originally passed in the wake of 9-11.

Roberts, R-Kan., is proposing that the FBI be given new powers to issue "administrative subpoenas" - which are not reviewed by a judge or grand jury - to quickly obtain evidence in terror investigations.

"This is an effort to untie (the FBI's) hands and let them fully fight and win the war on terror," Roberts' spokeswoman, Sarah Little, said Thursday.

Aides to Roberts said the proposal also would try to address civil libertarians' concerns about the Patriot Act - by requiring the FBI to report, every six months, how often it seizes records from libraries and booksellers.

But that provision did little to dampen concerns among skeptics of the law.

"Nobody has made any cogent argument to me why what people check out in a library or buy in a bookstore has any relevance to our nation's security," said Pat Kehde, co-owner of The Raven Bookstore, which has a poster opposing the law in its front window. "There is a chilling effect on peoples' sense of freedom about what they choose to read and know about."

Such concerns prompted the Lawrence City Commission, in April 2004, to pass a resolution calling on Congress to repeal parts of the Patriot Act. That resolution also directed the Lawrence Public Library to put up signs warning patrons that their checkout records could end up in federal hands.

Instead of narrowing the scope of the law, however, Roberts is working to expand it before some provisions expire at the end of this year.

Changes to the law also would make it easier for prosecutors to use special court-approved warrants for secret wiretaps and searches of suspected terrorists and spies in criminal cases.

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But it is the provision that would allow the FBI to issue subpoenas without a judge's permission that has raised the most concerns among critics.

Little, the Roberts spokeswoman, said that shouldn't be the case; other federal agencies - such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration - already have the power to issue such subpoenas, she said, though that's generally within the context of regulatory programs.

"We hold (the FBI) accountable for their actions, yet at the same time we don't give them the tools allowed for other criminal investigations," she said.

The bill's specific contents have not yet been made public. The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to meet in private when it considers the bill, because the discussions would involve intelligence operations.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the panel's senior Democrat, has not said publicly whether he would support the entire bill that Roberts was working on or seek changes.