US drops terror plan after backlash

The Bush administration, backing away from a controversial anti-terrorism plan in the face of a public backlash, said on Friday that it will...

The Bush administration, backing away from a controversial anti-terrorism plan in the face of a public backlash, said on Friday that it will no longer solicit terrorism tips from utility workers, postal employees and anyone else with access to people8217;s homes.

The administration still plans this fall to enlist potentially hundreds of thousands of workers as part of Operation TIPS. But officials have decided that workers with access to homes and private property will not be authorised to use the special, non-published tipster hotline, Justice Department officials said.

The notion of cable workers or meter readers reporting what they considered to be 8216;8216;suspicious8217;8217; activity in someone8217;s house had riled senators and civil libertarians, sparking protests and congressional opposition. 8216;8216;People were obviously uncomfortable with that, and we were sensitive to that and wanted to listen to the public8217;s concerns,8217;8217; a Justice Department official said.

8216;8216;It8217;s quite a relief knowing that even the Ashcroft administration is not immune to public criticism,8217;8217; head of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, Laura W. Murphy said.

Congressional critics, meanwhile, predicted the changes will not be enough to derail legislation proposed last month that seeks a ban on the program. David Carle, spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., said concerns go beyond the issue of access to homes.

Another central question is what will happen to records of the tips once they are referred to law enforcement agencies for review. 8216;8216;The bipartisan concerns in Congress about this program are not likely to be satisfied by this change. There are many questions still without answers, including how the data will be used and stored by government agencies and other concerns about the structure and scope of the program,8217;8217; Carle said.

8216;8216;Justice Department officials have offered scant information that makes it unclear whether even they know how the program would actually work.8217;8217; Leahy and other senators pressed Ashcroft at a congressional hearing last month to explain how the program would work if, for instance, a telephone repairman or a cable worker spotted something 8216;8216;suspicious8217;8217; in a call at someone8217;s house.

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Ashcroft gave a fairly noncommittal response. While he indicated that the information would not be stored in a data bank, as originally suggested, he refused to exclude the use of such tips in the administration8217;s new program. 8216;8216;Telephone repairmen have the opportunity, just like you have an opportunity, to call the FBI at any time,8217;8217; Ashcroft responded.

8216;8216;However, given the concerns raised about safeguarding against all possibilities of invasion of individual privacy, the Department of Justice has decided that the hotline number will not be shared with any workers, including postal and utility workers, whose work puts them in contact with homes and private property.8217;8217;

The Postal Service indicated last month that it did not want to participate in the program because of civil rights concerns. The Justice Department is now in discussions with officials from the shipping, trucking, maritime and other transportation and service industries to enlist their support in getting workers to call in tips once the program begins, officials said. 8212;LATWP