Congress should revise laws on electronic surveillance as a tool ...

to widen the dragnet raises key constitutional questions, experts said. A Conn. library group told Chmn. Feingold (D-Wis.) it was subject to a gag order and banned from discussing an FBI National Security Letter (NSL) sent it demanding material on suspected terrorists. The order was lifted after the ACLU sued, but it was tough sledding, said George Christian, exec. dir.-Library Connection. His group’s name was revealed in The N.Y. Times, but at one point the U.S. justified keeping the gag order in place because “no one in Connecticut reads the New York Times.” Christian urged Congress to require judicial review of NSLs to ensure material collected in such sweeps fits the investigations. Witnesses said the Patriot Act changed how NSLs work, overendowing the executive branch with power. “NSL” really means “Never Seeing the Light,” Ohio State U. Prof. Peter Swire, urging Congress to clarify how this investigative tool is to be used. Now it’s “clouded by secrecy,” he said. NSL-related problems are only going to worsen, former Rep. Barr (R-Ga.) said: “I would urge the chairman to move forward with very aggressive oversight… if the abuses become institutionalized, it becomes that much harder to dislodge.”