WASHINGTON

GONZALES URGES RENEWAL OF PATRIOT ACT

The Bush administration has used the Patriot Act’s powers to listen to cell phone conversations and examine business records 84 times in 3 1/2 years, Attorney General Gonzales said yesterday as Congress began considering whether to renew those powers and other sections of the anti-terror law. Mr. Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller urged lawmakers to make permanent all 15 expiring provisions of the law, some of which have aroused civil liberties concerns. Mr. Mueller also asked lawmakers to expand the bureau’s ability to obtain records in terrorism cases without first asking a judge or grand jury.

“Al Qaeda and other groups remain a grave threat to our country, and now is not the time for us to relinquish our tools in that fight,” Mr. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Several lawmakers are introducing legislation today to curb major parts of the Patriot Act. Their bill would limit so-called “roving wiretaps” that allow authorities to monitor a suspect’s cell phone and would raise the standard of proof the government has to meet before getting secret warrants to examine business records.

– Associated Press

RICE: WORLD CAN’T UNDER-REACT TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS THREATS

The world may never know precise details about nuclear efforts in Iran and North Korea but must not “under-react” because of incomplete intelligence, Secretary of State Rice said yesterday in an interview. In her first public remarks about last week’s scathing report by a presidential commission studying American spy agencies, Ms. Rice said she could not guarantee that American intelligence was on the mark now, as the Bush administration seeks international cooperation to end suspected or declared nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

“There are no guarantees where intelligence is concerned,” Ms. Rice said, “particularly when you’re dealing with opaque and difficult societies like the ones that tend to want weapons of mass destruction undercover.” The report blamed intelligence agencies for knowing “disturbingly little about the nuclear programs of many of the world’s most dangerous actors.”

– Associated Press

AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN NAMED TO BAGHDAD POST

Zalmay Khalilzad, a former White House official who has served as American ambassador in his native Afghanistan, was named yesterday to take over the post in Iraq. Secretary of State Rice announced his selection at a State Department ceremony, where Mr. Khalilzad pledged to work to improve the lives of Iraqis through postwar reconstruction so the country “can stand on its own feet.” If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Khalilzad would succeed John Negroponte as American ambassador to Baghdad. President Bush has named Mr. Negroponte the American intelligence chief, also subject to Senate approval.

– Associated Press

U.S. TO TIGHTEN RULES FOR AMERICANS VISITING CANADA

Americans will need passports to re-enter America from Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Bermuda by 2008, part of a tightening of U.S. border controls in an era of terrorist threat, three administration officials said yesterday. Similarly, Canadians will also have to present a passport to enter America, the officials said. Asked about the changes, Secretary of State Rice said America had to take every precaution to screen out “people who want to come in to hurt us.” Ms. Rice also said the changes were made after consultation with Mexico, Canada, and others in the Western Hemisphere.

– Associated Press

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO OVERHAUL NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ENFORCEMENT

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings plans to fundamentally change enforcement of the No Child Left Behind law, giving preferential treatment to states that prove they’re serious about raising achievement, Bush administration officials say.

The change could affect the education of millions of students as states seek federal approval on everything from teacher quality to the measuring of student progress. In the first example, the Education Department plans to give some states more freedom in how they test hundreds of thousands of children with milder disabilities. But only states that can prove progress or a strong commitment to improve will be seriously considered for that flexibility, administration officials said yesterday. Also yesterday, Connecticut is preparing to file a federal lawsuit challenging President Bush’s No Child Left Behind education reform law, the attorney general, Richard Blumenthal said. The lawsuit will contend that the law illegally and unconstitutionally requires states and communities to spend millions above what federal funding provides to create standardized testing and initiate school reform efforts, Mr. Blumenthal said.

– Associated Press