F.B.I.'s Reach Into Records Is Set to Grow: "A little-noticed measure approved by both the House and Senate would significantly expand the F.B.I.'s power to demand financial records, without a judge's approval, from car dealers, travel agents, pawnbrokers and many other businesses, officials said on Tuesday." Traditional financial institutions like banks and credit unions are frequently subject to administrative subpoenas from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to produce financial records in terrorism and espionage investigations. Such subpoenas, which are known as national security letters, do not require the bureau to seek a judge's approval before issuing them. The measure now awaiting final approval in Congress would significantly broaden the law to include securities dealers, currency exchanges, car dealers, travel agencies, post offices, casinos, pawnbrokers and any other institution doing cash transactions with "a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax or regulatory matters." Officials said the measure, which is tucked away in the intelligence community's authorization bill for 2004, gives agents greater flexibility and speed in seeking to trace the financial assets of people suspected of terrorism and espionage. It mirrors a proposal that President Bush outlined in a speech two months ago to expand the use of administrative subpoenas in terrorism cases. Critics said the measure would give the federal government greater power to pry into people's private lives. "This dramatically expands the government's authority to get private business records," said Timothy H. Edgar, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "You buy a ring for your grandmother from a pawnbroker, and the record on that will now be considered a financial record that the government can get." The provision is in the authorization bills passed by both houses of Congress. Some Democrats have begun to question whether the measure goes too far and have hinted that they may try to have it pulled when the bill comes before a House-Senate conference committee. Other officials predicted that the measure would probably survive any challenges in conference and be signed into law by President Bush, in part because the provisions already approved in the House and the Senate are identical. The intelligence committees considered the proposal at the request of George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, officials said. Officials at the C.I.A. and the Justice Department declined to comment on Tuesday about the measure.� http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/12/politics/12RECO.html

A Toy Gun Can Shut Down Congress, The Vice President Hides on the Least Hint of a Threat, President Says, "We Won't be Intimidated"

Secret Service Hides Cheney as Plane Enters Restricted Area: "The Secret Service hustled Vice President Dick Cheney into a secure site on Monday morning after a small plane flew into restricted airspace around Washington, government officials said." The plane was intercepted by two Air Force F-16 fighters, whose pilots determined that it was not a threat and escorted it out of the area. President Bush was on his way to a fund-raiser in Little Rock, Ark., at the time, and Laura Bush was in Maine. Mr. Cheney returned to work in the White House after a short time, said a Secret Service spokesman, Tom Mazur. Mr. Mazur said Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, was also taken to the undisclosed secure spot while the Air Force sought to determine whether the small plane presented any danger. Officials said the plane, a single-engine Mooney M20, entered the restricted zone, within 17.5 miles of the Washington Monument, about 11:15 a.m. Mr. Mazur said the pilot of the small plane cooperated with the instructions of the fighter pilots and was allowed to go on his way.� http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/11/national/11PLAN.html

Internet Tax Ban Stops Dead in Senate: "A push to permanently ban taxes on Internet access came to an abrupt halt in the Senate on Friday amid concern that state and local governments could lose millions in taxes from phones, music and movies that are migrating to the Internet." State and local governments collect more than $20 billion every year on telecommunications and fear the permanent ban will wipe out a large part of that revenue. A core group of senators pressing for a permanent end to taxes on Internet access said those fears are unfounded. "All the bill says is you cannot discriminate against electronic commerce, and not one state has come forward and given an example of how they have been hurt by their inability to discriminate against electronic commerce," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office said the bill could hit state and local governments in three ways. About 10 states that imposed a tax on Internet access charges before the original ban, and who were permitted to keep collecting those taxes, would lose $80 million to $120 million each year. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1376712,00.asp