One important aspect of the intelligence reform bill escaped Dan Eggen's notice ["Measure Expands Police Powers," front page, Dec. 10]: It limits court review of designations of "terrorist" organizations. This allows the president to put organizations with unwelcome viewpoints out of business through asset freezes, forfeitures and damage payments.
Once the secretary of state publishes a designation, the cited organization has 30 days to appeal to the courts. That's not a lot of time for an organization that may not be checking the Federal Register every day. The secretary doesn't have to notify the organization of its designation. Once the organization misses the appeal deadline, it has to wait two years to apply for reconsideration -- and that's plenty of time to be financially clobbered.
The bill also allows the president to bank designations for future use. If an organization is unaware of its designation, and no action is taken against it for five years, it will stay unaware and miss the deadline for reconsideration. Then, the secretary still can decide that it's a terrorist organization, and that decision can't be appealed. The organization is "terrorist" until the secretary or Congress decides otherwise.
The panic induced by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has prompted Congress to lead us down unwise paths. I fear that in 10 years, even the supporters of these measures will be sorry.
ROBERT MOSS
Bloomfield, N.J.
