Evening star., 1954-04-20
BrowneII Explains
Why He Wants Full
Wire-Tap Powers
BY Allen Drury

Attorney General Brownell told
a Senate Judiciary Subcommit-
tee today that he should be
given unrestricted authority to
order wire taps in order to as
sure greater secrecy, speed and
better supervision by Congress"
in cases Of supected Subversion.
Mr.. Brownell, seeking to re-
verse a House decision two weeks
ago which would require him to
get a prior court order before
he could authorize wire tapping
by the FBI and military intelli-
gence officers, said the court or
der procedure might prove to be
so restrictive in practical opera
tion as to be fatal to the primary
detectives Of bringing our trail
tors to Justice"
'These SPIES" he said, "are
not so accommodating as to de-
fer their scheming over the
phone until we are able to hunt
up a judge who will sign an
order. Their conspiracy stretches
out across every State in this
country. It may be necessary to
intercept communications at
about the same time in many
different parts of the country.
Since Federal judge in one dis
trict cannot grant an order for
interception of a communication
in another district. it will be nec-
eSSary to go to a number Of
judges to obtain orders"
Hard. to Keep Secrecy.
Furthermore, the Attorney
General said. court clerks and
other employees would see the
orders. making secrecy hard to
maintain.
Therefore, he told the sub
committee. a bill giving him un-
restricted authority would strike
the best balance between the
rights of the individual and the
vital needs Of the Nation.
Mr.. Brownell emphasized that
the proposed law would not per-
NIT use Of such evidence against
innocent persons.
Its use will be confined solely
to criminal proceedings initiated
by the Government against those
criminals who seek to subvert
our country's welfare" he said.
mo intercepted evidence could
ever be made public until a grand
jury had indicted the accused for
espionage sabotage or related
crimes. Even upon a trial, no
conversation or evidence OBJ
tanned by wire tap could be in
troduced in court until q Federal
judge had concluded that it was
relevant. material and obtained
with the approval of the Attor-
ney General"
Cites Private Tapping.
Chairman Wiley, Republican,
of Wisconsin, said he thought
one of the main jobs Of the SUBJ
committee would be to bring
order out of "the present legal
chaos which prevails on this
wire tap ISSUE" Senator Wiley
also said he thought the COM
mittee should take note oi
alarming private wire tapping
by which COMMUNICATIONS are
"brazenly intercepted by private
parties, engaged for entirely
private purposes"
Also pending before the sub
committee is a bill by Senator
Wiley which would grant unre.
stricted authority to the Attor-
ney General, and another by
Senator Potter, Republican o1
Michigan. which would make
wiretapping permissible in vir-
tually any case in which a ma
tional security interest could be
shown. The Potter bill also con-
tains the retroactive feature
sought by the administration.
Another bill. by Senator Nc
Carran of Nevada, ranking Dem
ocrat on the Judiciary Commit
tee, would make wiretapping
illegal when done by any person
except a Federal officer author
lied by the Attorney General.
who would have to get court per-
mission. The McCarran bill
would limit the life of such a
court order to six months.