Electronic Privacy Information Center
                 666 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
                     Washington, DC 20003
                        (202) 544-9240
                         info@epic.org


                 * P R E S S   R E L E A S E *


April 27, 1995


            EPIC URGES SPECTER TO PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY

WASHINGTON -- In a letter sent today to Senator Arlen Specter, 
the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a leading civil 
liberties organization, urged the Congress to proceed cautiously 
in the wake of the tragic bombing incident in Oklahoma.  EPIC 
said that "any expansion of federal authority to investigate 
political activity could have a profound impact upon 
communication networks and the future of electronic democracy."  
Senator Specter is holding hearings tomorrow on counter-terrorism 
proposals.

	The EPIC letter focused on the history of the Attorney 
General guidelines which permit the government to conduct 
investigations of domestic organizations.  The original 
guidelines were issued in 1976 by Attorney General Edward Levi.  
The "Levi Guidelines," as they came to be known, recognized the 
FBI's legitimate investigative needs while seeking to protect the 
First Amendment rights of dissident politic organizations.  The 
Guidelines were promulgated in the wake of Watergate and the 
revelations of the Senate's Church Committee investigation. 
According to EPIC, the Levi Guidelines reflected the post-
Watergate consensus that the investigation of controversial or 
unpopular political groups had at times been overzealous and had 
violated fundamental constitutional rights.

	In 1983 President Reagan's Attorney General, William French 
Smith, issued a new set of guidelines that replaced the Levi 
Guidelines.  The "Smith Guidelines" were far less restrictive 
than the Levi Guidelines.  As President Reagan's FBI Director 
William Webster said, the Smith Guidelines "should eliminate any 
perceptions that actual or imminent commission of a violent crime 
is a prerequisite to investigation."

	The critical section of the Smith Guidelines cited in the 
EPIC letter provides that "[a] domestic security/terrorism 
investigation may be initiated when facts or circumstances 
reasonably indicate that two or more persons are engaged in an 
enterprise for the purpose of furthering political or social 
goals wholly or in part through activities that involve force or 
violence and a violation of the criminal laws of the United 
States."

	EPIC said that "the current guidelines provide the FBI with 
ample authority to initiate investigations of organizations and 
individuals similar to those alleged to have been involved in the 
Oklahoma City bombing."  EPIC noted that public information 
concerning paramilitary right-wing organizations in general -- 
and the Michigan Militia in particular -- has been readily 
available to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for some 
time.  EPIC also noted that former Attorney General Griffin Bell 
and former Assistant Attorney General Victoria Toensing have 
recently expressed the view that the FBI possessed sufficient 
authority under the Smith Guidelines to investigate and monitor 
the activities of this organization and affiliated individuals.

	Finally, EPIC urged Senator Specter to give similar careful 
consideration to any proposals for the modification of the 
wiretap statute or privacy statutes that would diminish the 
freedoms that all American currently enjoy.

	Earlier this year, EPIC recommended that Congress not 
appropriate $500 million for a national wiretap program developed 
by the FBI.  EPIC said that the program would increase the 
vulnerability of the nation's communications infrastructure.  
EPIC said today that it will continue to oppose funding of the 
program.



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