Porter Goss: “Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I want to point out to the Members that this is truly a minor change in the wiretap laws. It…”

“Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I want to point out to the Members that this is truly a minor change in the wiretap laws. It is designed to combat terrorism. Current law does permit multipoint, or roving wiretaps. Current law does permit this. Court approval is still required under this bill. Probable cause of criminal activity is still required for any wiretap. Current law requires the court to find intent to evade wiretap before allowing the tap of whatever phone is used by the suspect as opposed to a specific phone. But you can have it if that intent is proven. The bill simply changes this. It permits the court-ordered wiretap that follows the criminal terrorist suspect to whatever phone he uses if the court determines his actions show he is trying to evade the tap, not requiring the specific criminal intent which has been very hard to do. The bill also protects innocent people by limiting the tap of any phone to only those times when the criminal or terrorist suspect actually is using that phone. This is a very minor change.…”