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45 Loy. L. Rev. 745 (1999)
Roving Wiretaps: For Your Ears Only

handle is hein.journals/loyolr45 and id is 757 raw text is: ROVING WIRETAPS: FOR YOUR EARS ONLY INTRODUCTION-THE SNEAK ATTACK ON PRIVACY' On October 20, 1998, President William Jefferson Clinton signed into law House Rule 3694, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (the Act).2 The Act authorizes appro- priations for U.S. intelligence and intelligence-related entities.3 President Clinton noted that Section 604 of the Act enhance[s] significantly our ability to conduct effective counterintelligence... [and] expands the Government's ability to conduct wiretaps.4 Specifically, Section 604 includes an expansion of the FBI's authority to implement roving wiretaps.' Section 604 outlines the requirements for wire and electronic communications interception and mandates that probable cause must exist to believe that a suspect is attempting to thwart interception from a specified facility.' Perhaps even more impor- tantly, the Act allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to tap any phone when it is reasonable to presume that the [subject] is or was reasonably proximate to the phone.7 1. Dan Gillmor, New Wiretap Law 'Attacks'Civil Liberties, THE DENVER POST, Oct. 19, 1998, at A I (quoting Stanton McCandish of the Electronic Frontier Foundation). 2. The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999, authorized appropriations for fiscal year 1999 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities. See The Intelligence Autho- rization Act for Fiscal Year 1999, Pub. L. No. 105-272. 3. See id. 4. The White House, Statement by President William J. Clinton, 34 WEEKLY COMP. PRES. Doc. 2082, Oct. 20, 1998. 5. See 105 Pub. L. No. 105-272, § 604. 6. See id. Essentially, law enforcement need only demonstrate that the target's actions have the effect of thwarting surveillance. See also Letter from American Civil Liberties Union to Senator Wellstone (Oct. 7, 1998) (citing the Act)(on file with author). Note that the ACLU prides itself on being the Guardian of Liberty. ACLU, Guardian of Liberty: American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU Briefing Paper No. I (visited Oct. 2, 1999) <http://www.aclu.org/ library/pbpl.html>. The ACLU is a nonprofit and nonpartisan 275,000 member organization designed to protect the individual rights of Americans. See id. 7. Id. 745