Denying political asylum or refugee status to alien terrorists. Providing expedited exclusion in asylum proceedings for alien terrorists, and returning common sense to the immigration law by precluding the issuance of a travel visa to a member of a known terrorist organization.

Finally, despite the awful tragedy in Oklahoma City, that catastrophe provides us with an opportunity to recognize the real spirit of America and the underlying greatness of this Nation. Exhibited in the aftermath was the friendship and fraternity of our citizens which, sad to say, is only typically publicized in situations of national crisis. We need to remind ourselves that such acts of personal and national virtue and heroism occur daily in this country as Americans fulfill their obligations of citizenship through volunteerism, sacrifice, and charity. We should be refreshed by the benevolence of our fellow citizens whose acts of mercy are undertaken with spontaneous dedication and profound grace whenever misfortune strikes. When calamity hits, we see that this Nation is comprised of truly caring people whose generosity is boundless. We should be heartened by that response and trust in what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." In doing so, we can defeat the efforts being made to define ourselves by the ravings and actions of the few evildoers in our midst.

And since the Waco event has been mentioned by some of the members thus far, I would point out that we did, as we all know, have a hearing, 1 day's hearing, in the previous Congress. That was April 28, 1993, and we just found the transcript. It was never printed. We are having it printed. So we may have that as a reference point and a background for any further hearings on this subject.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MCCOLLUM. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Conyers was going to make a statement, and I don't see him present here. His statement will certainly be put into the record, as will the statements of any of the other members of this committee, but I would very much like to proceed at this point with our witnesses because of the time constraints involved.

And I'd like to welcome our first panel this morning today. Our first witness is Ms. Jamie Gorelick, Deputy Attorney General of the United States. The Deputy Attorney General, as most of us on this subcommittee know, is the second ranking official at the Department of Justice and the chief operating officer.

Prior to her appointment in March 1994, Ms. Gorelick served as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense. There she was the chief legal officer responsible for advising the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on a wide range of matters, including international and intelligence issues and investigations.

Ms. Gorelick has also spent 2 years as Assistant to the Secretary and counselor to the Deputy Secretary of Energy. In addition to her distinguished career in public service, Ms. Gorelick also is an experienced litigator, having spent 18 years in private practice with the Washington, DC, law firm of Miller, Cassidy, LaRocho & Lumin.

Our second witness who has joined Ms. Gorelick at the table is Louis Freeh, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Prior to his nomination in 1993 by President Clinton, the Director was

a U.S. district court judge in the Southern District of New York, where he had been appointed by former President George Bush in 1991.

Director Freeh spent the first 6 years of his career serving as an FBI agent. In 1981, he became a Federal prosecutor in New York City and eventually became an associate U.S. attorney. He's been recognized on several occasions for his exemplary accomplishments, which include investigations and prosecutions related to organized crime, drugs, terrorism, and fraud.

As I introduce both of you today, I cannot help but comment, Director Freeh, that all of us are very aware of what the men and women of the FBI have done in this Oklahoma City investigation. In the public eye and in our eye it's been an exemplary job. I know it's not completed, and you won't rest until it is, but what has unfolded and the manner in which it has been conducted and the way the FBI has handled this has been remarkably good, positive, and I want to compliment them publicly and you publicly for that.

Ms. Gorelick, in the order of seniority here, I'll recognize you first.

STATEMENT OF JAMIE S. GORELICK, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Ms. GORELICK. Thank you, Chairman McCollum, and for that kind introduction as well. To you and to Congressman Schumer and to members of the subcommittee and the full committee, I appreciate the opportunity to be here today.

As you, Mr. chairman, have noted, it was less than a month ago that I appeared before the full committee to discuss the President's terrorism legislation, and just 13 days later we experience the terrible event in Oklahoma City, which demonstrates, if any demonstration were needed, the urgent need to reassess the adequacy of our legal tools and our resources to combat terrorism. And I appreciate on behalf of the Attorney General and the administration your consideration of this bill and the President's additional proposals to deal with domestic terrorism, and we urge you, as we have done before, to move swiftly on this issue.

The bombing on April 19 really does challenge all of us to prove that we have the will and the power to fulfill that very fundamental responsibility set out in the very first sentence of the Constitution, and that is to ensure domestic tranquillity, and at the same time, though, we are mindful of our duty to uphold the Constitution's guarantees of personal freedom in the Bill of Rights. And as Chairman Hyde said, we can and must do both, and I firmly believe that that is more than possible.

We in Federal law enforcement have responded, as you Chairman McCollum have noted, to the Oklahoma City bombing with everything that we have. I believe that what we have seen in that effort is a model of dedication, of cooperation and efficiency. Immediately the FBI placed into operation its Strategic Information and Operation Center, the SIOC, and the Center has in it all of the other relevant Federal agencies whose resources are really essential to a fully coordinated approach. And we have the BATF there, the Marshals Service, the DEA, the Secret Service, and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

We have drawn on the experience garnered in the investigation of the attack on the World Trade Center 2 years ago. The special agent who coordinated the on-scene investigation in that case is supervising the Oklahoma City crime scene.

The Attorney General has assigned Department of Justice attorneys from the Criminal Division to the SIOC to provide legal assistance and guidance, and you, Chairman McCollum, have noted the importance of the rule of law as we pursue even the most challenging investigation. The role of our lawyers and legal counsel working collaboratively with the FBI in this investigation has been, I think, superlative.

We have U.S. attorneys' offices in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Michigan and several other States all working collectively and coordinated by my office. We have our very best people at work on this

case.

Because of the history of the legislation here, I think it's important to put the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in perspective. It is only the most recent example of a disturbing and escalating trend of terrorist attacks both inside the United States and outside. They include the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the World Trade Center bombing, and the recent nerve gas attack in the subway system of Tokyo. We have convicted two would-be terrorists in Minnesota who made ricin, a deadly biological agent, with intent to use it as a weapon; the two recent murders of American civilian employees assigned to the consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. Those are just a few of the most prominent examples of the threat that we face.

To meet this threat, the President presented to Congress and the Nation a comprehensive and carefully considered program to combat both domestic and international terrorism. This program includes two pieces of legislation to enhance our investigative capabilities, our prosecutive capabilities, and the punishment of terrorist activities. They are the Omnibus Counterterrorist Act of 1995 and the Antiterrorism Amendments of 1995, which are being transmitted to Congress today.

I'd like to outline very briefly, and mindful, Mr. Chairman, of the time constraints that you're facing today, the high points and critical points in our view of the legislation.

First, we need to provide a thousand new agents, prosecutors and other Federal enforcement and support personnel to investigate, deter, and prosecute terrorist activity. We very much need a Domestic Counterterrorism Center under the direction of the FBI, one that will bring together all of the resources of the Federal Government in one place to serve as a collection and dissemination point, as well as to provide analytical support. And it will be available to all law enforcement, including Federal, State, and local agencies that deal with domestic and international terrorism. We must not forget our partners at State and local law enforcement here.

We should provide clear Federal criminal jurisdiction for any international terrorist attack that might occur in the United States and Federal criminal jurisdiction over terrorists who use the United States as a platform from which to plan terrorist attacks overseas. As Chairman Hyde said, we have to provide a workable mech

anism to deport alien terrorists expeditiously without risking disclosures of national security information. In this regard, I want to make clear that it is not our intent to foreclose appropriate judicial review of the designation of a group as a terrorist organization under either the alien removal or fundraising provisions of H.R. 896. That is an issue that has received a great deal of attention, and I think there's misunderstanding with respect to our intentions in the legislation that we sent up.

We should ease access to financial and credit reports in any terrorism case because, while banking records themselves can be obtained under current law under appropriate legal procedures, the credit records, which lead you to the banking records, are not accessible. And under Congressman Bereuter's bill, which is incorporated in the administration's initiative, it would allow us to use the same process. We think that is wholly appropriate.

We should have the same legal standard in national security cases that we currently have in the routine criminal case to obtain pen registers and to trap and trace telephone traffic. That does not involve overhearing the conversation, but only discloses which calls are being made. The national security letter process which is currently used for obtaining certain categories of information on terrorists should be available to obtain records from hotels, motels, and common carriers.

And, clearly, we must fund the digital telephony bill which Congress passed last session, which will allow us to maintain our ability to maintain electronic surveillances where they are court-authorized. We need a counterterrorist and counterintelligence fund to pay for the extraordinary logistical and other expenses that arise in terrorist crises. As we're seeing now, we have an extraordinary expenditure of funds on an event like the one in Oklahoma City. And we also very much want to include taggants in standard explosive device raw materials, which will permit us to trace the materials post-explosion. We want to make sure that there are means of tagging explosives for the purposes of identification and detection.

in

I believe that we should be able to permit our use of the military very limited circumstances to help us where they have the sole expertise in the handling of biological and chemical weapons. No one wants the military involved in law enforcement, not law enforcement and not the military, but where they have the expertise, as they do with respect to nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, we need limited help from them. We have also proposed enhancements to the penalties that may be imposed, and we can pursue those further in the course of your questions.

I want to stress two important points, though. The President, the Attorney General, this entire administration wants to work with Congress in a bipartisan manner to meet the challenges of terrorism. This is an American problem. It calls on all of us to set aside political considerations to achieve a response that is both effective and comprehensive.

And, second, we are committed to standing up to terrorism without sacrificing our precious constitutional rights. As I said when Director Freeh and I testified before the Senate, the choice between civil liberties and a safe society is a false choice. We need not, and

we will not, trade off the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to uphold our duty to ensure domestic tranquillity.

I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, and I look forward to working with you and the Congress on this most important issue. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Gorelick follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAMIE S. GORELICK, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL,
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Chairman McCollum, Congressman Schumer, and members of the Subcommittee: It was less than a month ago, on April 6, that I appeared before the Committee on the Judiciary to discuss the President's "Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995." Just 13 days later, the terrible event in Oklahoma City demonstrated vividly the urgent need to reassess the adequacy of the legal tools and resources available to combat terrorism. I am here once again on behalf of the Attorney General and the Administration to urge you to move swiftly on this issue.

The terrorist bombing of April 19 challenges all of us to prove that we have the will and the power to fulfill a fundamental responsibility set out for us in the first sentence of our Constitution: to "insure domestic tranquility." At the same time, we are mindful of our duty to uphold the Constitution's guarantees of personal freedom in the Bill of Rights. We can and must do both.

The Federal law enforcement community's response to the Oklahoma City bombing has been a model of dedication, cooperation, and efficiency. Immediately after the bombing, the FBI placed into operation its Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC). This Operations Center has representatives of all of the other federal agencies whose resources are essential to a fully coordinated effort, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Secret Service, and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

The FBI is drawing upon the experience garnered in the investigation into the attack on the World Trade Center two years ago. The Special Agent who coordinated the on-the-scene investigation in that case will supervise the Oklahoma City crime scene. His experience will be crucial as this case is aggressively pursued.

The Attorney General has assigned Department of Justice attorneys from the Criminal Division to the SIOC to provide legal assistance and guidance. We have prosecution teams including lawyers from the Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney offices in Oklahoma, Kansas and Michigan as well as in several other states, all coordinated by my office. We have our very best people at work on this case.

I think it is important to put the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in perspective: This is only the most recent in a disturbing and escalating trend of terrorist attacks, inside and outside the United States. These events include the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; the World Trade Center bombing; the recent nerve gas attack in the subway system in Tokyo; two would-be terrorists in Minnesota who made ricin, a deadly biological agent, with intent to use it as a weapon; and the recent murders of two American civilian employees assigned to the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

To meet this threat, President Clinton has presented to the Congress and the nation a comprehensive and carefully considered program to combat domestic and international terrorism. This program includes two pieces of legislation to enhance our investigation, prosecution, and punishment of terrorist activity: the "Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995," introduced in the House as H.R. 896, and the "Antiterrorism Amendments Act of 1995," which is being transmitted to the Congress today. Here are some of the steps we need to take as part of this effort: We need to provide for an additional 1,000 new agents, prosecutors, and other federal law enforcement and support personnel to investigate, deter, and prosecute terrorist activity. The five-year cost for these investments is approximately $1.25 billion, including funding for digital telephony in the out years.

We need to create a Domestic Counterterrorism Center, under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that will establish a single point of contact for intelligence relating to terrorism. It will serve as a collection and dissemination point as well as provide analytical support. It will be available to all law enforcement agencies-federal, state, and local—and to agencies that deal with international terrorism.

We should provide clear Federal criminal jurisdiction for any international terrorist attack that might occur in the United States.