Terrorism Issue Backgrounder Online NewsHour

NewsHour Backgrounders Sept. 9, 1996: Although the cause of the TWA Flight 800 crash earlier this summer has not been conclusively determined, the event did prompt a new round of questions about overall air safety. September 3, 1996: Airport security has tightened up quite a bit in the last twenty years, but is it enough? August 6, 1996: President Clinton, in a speech at Geoge Washingon University, decries Congress' response to his anti-terrorism proposals, urging passage of laws that would increase wiretapping. July 19, 1996: In light of continuing speculation, a panel of terrorist experts and civic leaders discuss attempts to balance security versus personal freedom. July 18, 1996: President Clinton's Press conference following TWA flight 800 disaster. April 19, 1996: A panel of regional commentators looks at the after-effects of the Oklahoma bombing on its one year anniversary. Complete rundown NewsHour politics coverage. Complete rundown of the NewsHour legal coverage.

Background The Oklahoma bombing; the arrest of the Unabomber; the bomb blast at Atlanta's Centennial Park during the Olympics; the suspicious explosion of TWA's flight 800 off the coast of Long Island in July, the bombing of the World Trade Center. In the past three years, Americans have had a lot of reasons to think that terrorism is an issue that needs to be addressed. Actions this year by the President and Congress reflect this. In late April, President Clinton signed a bill into law on the anniversary of the Oklahoma bombing. The legislation broadened the powers of the FBI and other agencies to fight terrorism. Funded by an additional $1 billion over the next four years, law enforcement officials can now ban known terrorist groups from fundraising in the U.S., and can turn away, search or detain visitors who fit the description of suspected terrorists, a practice known as profiling. Following the TWA flight 800 disaster, the House passed a second bill which strengthened security in airports and public buildings. What was missing from these two bills is as indicative of the nature of the present Congress as what's in them. The Clinton administration was pushing for additional powers to expand wiretapping capabilities and to place chemical identifiers, known as tagents, in the two most prevalent types of gun-powder. Republicans in Congress, leery of expanding the power of the federal government, turned down two attempts from the Democrats to include these provisions in the bills. Interesting as well is that civil liberties groups and right-wing militias are both fighting revoke the "profiling" measures. Militias fear it as further ammunition for an ever-encroaching government, and civil libertarians say it will lead to detention based on racial and ethnic stereotypes. These anti-terrorism measures appear to be another area where the President has allowed Democrats to look tough on an issue that was thought to be the exclusive domain of the GOP. But Republicans point to their success in tempering the administrations desires to gain greater freedom in probing the lives of Americans, especially those who travel. The President's actions aside, Congressional Republicans and Democrats have drawn clear lines of division on this issue.

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