By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department ( news - web sites) on Thursday said a secret court had limited the ability of investigators to coordinate surveillance against terrorism suspects and announced plans to appeal the ruling.
In an unprecedented move, the government appealed a May ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, saying it "unnecessarily narrowed" new anti-terror laws that allowed a wider berth in conducting electronic surveillance and in using information obtained form the wiretaps and searches.
Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the court can approve surveillance or searches if it believes the subject of the proposed wiretap or search is tied to a group or government working against U.S. interests.
Sweeping anti-terror legislation, called the USA Patriot Act, signed into law in October in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on America, widened the FISA parameters and made it easier for investigators and law enforcement officials or prosecutors to share information obtained by the surveillance and searches.
But in the May ruling, made public for the first time on Thursday, the court ruled that law enforcement officials cannot give advice related to the surveillance to investigators carrying out the searches or wiretapping. The court also implemented an oversight requirement.
That contradicts a memorandum issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft ( news - web sites) in March regarding the sharing of foreign intelligence investigations conducted by the FBI ( news - web sites). In the memo, Ashcroft said consultation or sharing of information may include the exchange of advice and recommendations on how to carry out the surveillance and searches.
Because of the discrepancy, the Justice Department decided to appeal to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review -- an entity that exists but which has never been used.
"Their opinion limits our ability to engage in the kind of coordination which we believe is both helpful and necessary to our ability to protect national security," a senior Justice Department official said. "They have, in our view, incorrectly interpreted the USA Patriot Act."
News of the appeal came as senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee ( news - web sites) released the May ruling and a letter from the chief judge of the FISA Court who agreed to make public the ruling and any future unclassified rulings.
'RAY OF SUNSHINE'
Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, lauded the decision, saying it would help committees like his charged with oversight of the anti-terrorism laws.
"This ray of sunshine from the judicial branch is a remarkable step forward for constructive oversight," he said. "This is a window on the process that will help us better understand how the laws are being implemented and how well they are working."
Until now, the workings of the FISA Court have been kept secret. The court, made up of judges designated by the Supreme Court chief justice, deals mostly with secret or top secret information and has never before published any of its rulings.
In the May ruling, the court criticized the government for a number of "misstatements and omissions" in FISA applications, and said it had violated court orders regarding information sharing between investigators and prosecutors.
The court said the government on several occasions had confessed to making errors in applications. For example in September 2000 it said it had made errors in 75 FISA applications related to major terrorist attacks directed against the United States.
Justice Department officials said the process of filing for a FISA warrant had been changed since then.