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WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to expand the U.S. government's power to demand financial records from businesses as part of terrorism investigations, despite concerns that the measure could undermine civil liberties.
The provision was part of a mostly secret bill authorizing 2004 intelligence programs that got final House approval in a 264-163 vote. The amount of the bill is classified, but it is believed to be about $40-billion. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss said it is slightly more than the amount requested by President Bush.
The Senate is expected to approve the bill soon, and it will then go to Bush for his signature.
Committee members said the measure addresses some of the shortcomings identified by the panel's inquiries into the Sept. 11 attacks and prewar intelligence on Iraq. Those problems include the failure of agencies to share information, insufficient funding for intelligence, and an inadequate emphasis on human spying.
"This legislation convincingly moves us in the right direction by enhancing the depth and the capacity of all facets of our intelligence community," said Goss, R-Fla.
The bill requires that Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet complete a report as soon as possible on what intelligence agencies have learned from their experiences in Iraq.
An internal review is under way. It is being conducted by a team led by Richard Kerr, a retired senior analyst and former deputy director of central intelligence.
Kerr's initial findings noted that intelligence analysts sometimes relied on intelligence 5 years old or more in reaching conclusions that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and an active nuclear program. Their conclusions have not been validated by discoveries in Iraq.
The bill's provisions affecting financial records will expand the number of businesses from which the FBI and other agencies could demand information without needing a subpoena. That power is now limited to traditional financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions. It broadens the definition of financial institution to include businesses that deal with large amounts of cash, such as casinos and pawn shops.
In another provision affecting terrorism financing, the bill creates a new intelligence office in the Treasury Department. The committees' report said that coordination between Treasury and intelligence agencies on terrorist financing "while improving, is currently uneven and disjointed."