New Secret Search Powers Plan for FBI

By Mark Sherman, AP

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is working on a bill that would renew the Patriot Act and expand government powers in the name of fighting terrorism, letting the FBI subpoena records without permission from a judge or grand jury.

The measure being written by Senator Pat Roberts, would make it easier for prosecutors to use special court-approved warrants for secret wiretaps and searches of suspected terrorists and spies in criminal cases.

Lisa Graves, the American Civil Liberties Union's senior counsel for legislative strategy, said the new subpoena power would ''be a dramatic expansion of secret search powers.'....