European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes Friday september 23, 1977 Tom Wicker Kennedy Church want limited Fri charter Sens. Edward Kennedy and fran Church have made Public a letter to sen. Birch Bayh in which they recommend that a new charter for the Fri should limit it to the investigation of crimes and Rule out intelligence operations for Domestic Security purposes. The letter to Bayh the chairman of an intelligence subcommittee now drafting an Fri charter has More significance than its High powered authorship. Kennedy is in the forefront of Liberal forces in the Senate and Church was chairman of the special investigating committee that exposed so Many Fri and Cia abuses. Their joint recommendation that the Fri should be held strictly to a criminal Standard will have great weight with the intelligence commit tee and the Senate. Its timing is important too because the Senate judiciary committee will give final consideration next week to s.1566. The Bill columns comments to require that the government secure a court order even for a foreign intelligence wiretap the last area of electronic surveillance for which warrants Are not now required. And what happens to s. 1.366 could have considerable effect on the Fri Char Ter. S.1566, As drafted by the Carter administration contains a limited exception to the criminal  under certain conditions that is american citizens could be tapped for foreign intelligence purposes without a showing by the government of probable cause to believe that a crime has been is being or is about to be committed. When a Bill similar to s.1566 was debated last year and throughout this year s discussion of the Issue Why first the Ford then the Carter administration insisted on such a noncriminal Standard for foreign intelligence tapping was not Clear. Intelli gence Community officials argued that James. J. Kilpatrick some instances of transmission of information to a foreign Power did not violate existing espionage Laws hence probable cause could t always be shown even when Security was being impaired. But that did t explain Why the espionage Laws could t be changed to cover such situations. And when the Justice department provided six hypothetical cases of the need for a noncriminal Standard in s.1566. The Washington office of the Ameri can civil liberties Union was Able to show conclusively that in All six either an espionage Law was being violated or a judge probably would not Issue a warrant even under the proposed noncriminal Standard of s. 1.566. Kennedy and Church suggested in their letter the most Likely reason Why the jus Tice department has insisted on including such a Standard in s.1566. If the wiretap legislation becomes Law in its present form they wrote Bayh we do not be Lieve it should be viewed As a precedent to depart from the criminal Standard in the Domestic Security  that passage was underlined for special emphasis. The senators fear in other words that if the noncriminal Standard survives in s. 1,566, the Justice department and the intelligence Community perhaps with the collaboration of the intelligence commit tee will View that As a precedent for a noncriminal Standard in the Fri charter. But under the wiretap Bill Only a few per sons knowingly engaged in transmitting in formation to a foreign Power might be tapped without a warrant if such a Loop Hole were written into the Bureau s Char Ter it could easily permit what Kennedy and Church called intrusive intelligence investigations of americans engaged in lawful political  that of course is what the new charter is supposed to prevent. Under the Guise of gathering intelligence for instance the Fri for years carried on its shabby Coin Tel pro Campaign of surveillance and harassment of politically Active citizens and groups. And although it now is being argued that an exception to the criminal Standard May be necessary if the Fri is to prevent terrorism Kennedy and Church Point out in their letter that the Public record is devoid of any evidence that intelligence investigations Are an effective tool in protecting the Public from terrorist Vio Lence. The government accounting office audit of Fri intelligence investigations found that they were All but useless for this the Fri needs to conduct an investigation  unless it has probable cause to believe a in fact there s no evidence that the government needs to wiretap when it can t show probable cause that a statute is being violated there s no evidence that crime is being committed and there s no reason Why the Senate should approve either. To new York times Pamm press printing tvs legs sap by Twe come troller by the depth c0mptr0u.ep?, a the Bankers by the Bank Iran Myers by these re committee members by you by he / oct Dan demands care not government control Congress has some rough one coming up taxes welfare Energy health care the Panama canal and electoral Reform. But one problem Little noticed May prove More troublesome than All the rest. It involves quite possibly the manipulation of the human race. Bills now pending in the House and Senate asking different approaches to recombinant Dan research Deal with the stuff from which science fiction is wrought. Indeed this was the stuff of Sci ence fiction nearly 50 years ago but ardous Huxley was a Piker. In Brave new world published in 1932, Huxley imag ined the planned reproduction of test tube babies and set the time for this at 632 . After Ford Huxley was off by maybe 490 years. Scientists Are close to Huxley s fan Tasy now. In an important autumn Book the people shapers Vance Packard reviews the status not Only of genetic research but also of research in the eerie Field of behavioural engineering. An excerpt appeared recently in saturday review. Depending none s Point of View the picture he paints is either terrifying or exciting. The dreams the geneticists Are dreaming could result in great Good or in fantastic harm. Dan is shorthand for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Back in 1944, an american Bio chemist Oswald Avery made the Basic discovery of Dan s role in reproduction. A decade later the secrets of life were fur ther uncovered with identification of Dan As a double molecule. Another decade passed and geneticists began to do Tricky things with enzyme sequences and protein chains. Today according to one scientist quoted by Packard modern genetics is on the verge of some truly fantastic ways of improving the human  the legislative dilemma is apparent. On one hand is the principle of academic free Dom Freedom of the mind. It is a Prin Ciple deeply rooted in the first amendment which says that Congress shall make no Law abridging a person s right to publish. On the other hand is the principle of the Commonweal the pub Lic s right to be protected from an undue risk of harm. Four years ago this month in science Magazine a group of leading scientists fashioned a Public letter. The technical ability existed they said to join together Dan molecules from diverse sources. These hybrid molecules May prove Haz ardous to Laboratory workers and to the  in the name of prudence they asked that the hazards be seriously consid ered. That is about where we Are now. The american bar association devoted a panel to Dan regulation at its Chicago meeting last month. The Senate human resources committee m july reported a Bill that would establish a new National commission to License and to supervise All recombinant Dan research. The House has a Bill that would place such regulation under the department of health education and Wel fare. In grappling with new visions terrifying or otherwise we ought to rely upon old principles. When it comes to suppressing the explorations of the human mind the devices of government Are Mere Fetters of Straw. Dan research can be conducted anywhere in the world. Ultimately the re search could be done in High school Labora tories. No act of Congress can repeal the Laws of human behaviour. Curious Man at the risk of disaster must pursue his curiosity where it takes him. The role of government therefore should be limited and the exercise of Federal authority should especially be limited. Once the All powerful National state begins to regulate the course of scientific inquiry we Are headed Down the soviet Road. A concerned Public is entitled to reasonable oversight the Power of the purse can be invoked by granting or withholding Federal Grants much Casabe done without risking fatal regimentation of applied research. The problem is As old As the Story of prometheus who stole fire form zeus to endow Man with life. The enraged god then created a woman whom he named Pandora. He gave her a sealed vessel containing All the ills that flesh is heir to to be Given to her husband when she married. Well Pandora married prometheus brother who opened the Jar and let the evils escape. Prometheus himself wound up nailed to a Mountain where eagles picked at his liver All Day Long. Today s geneticists have stolen nothing. They have followed their minds in danger Ous explorations. The principles of free Dom teach us not to Stop them and experience says we could not Stop them i we tried. C Washington sur Syndicate the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Al to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government