House approves bill giving FBI greater search power

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 | 9:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House approved Thursday a plan that would let the FBI have easier access to financial records from casinos and other businesses.

By a 264-163 vote, the House passed the Intelligence Authorization bill, which funds U.S. intelligence-gathering activities. The final amount of the taxpayer money that will be spent on the activities was not disclosed, and the bill was worked on in secret by members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

Reps. Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter, both R-Nev., voted for it. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted against it.

As chairman of a House Intelligence Subcommittee, Gibbons worked on the final version of the bill and a spokeswoman said Thursday that he did not oppose the measure affecting casinos since the FBI could already subponea their financial records through a court order.

"...Some of the most crucial needs of our intelligence community, the human intelligence and analysis, are getting the funding and attention that they deserve ," Gibbons said on the floor. "We are fighting a war on terrorism, and I cannot overemphasize how important human intelligence, also known under the acronym of HUMINT, is to the security of the American people and to our national interests."

But California Rep. Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said while the expanded definition "closes a potentially significant loophole in the government's ability to track terrorist financing," she was worried the approved language was not clear enough and was concerned about possible abuses of "a classic fishing expedition."

The approved change gives the FBI the ability to get records from businesses in terrorism cases without the approval of a judge or a grand jury. While banks, credit unions and other financial institutions are currently subject to such demands, the plan expands the list to include car dealers, pawnbrokers, travel agents, casinos and other businesses.

"With this legislation, we eliminate the judicial oversight that was built into our system for a reason, to make sure that our precious liberties are protected," Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, R-Idaho, said. "In our fight for our nation to make the world a safe place, we must not turn our backs on our own freedoms. Expanding the use of administrative subpoenas and threatening our system of checks and balance is a step in the wrong direction."

The conference report now heads to the Senate for a final vote before it can go to the president.