Ashcroft says lawmakers moving too slowly

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Emerging from a meeting with lawmakers, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday he is "deeply concerned" that the United States is moving too slowly to prevent more terrorist attacks.

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"Within hours after the attack on September 11 we began a very thorough and open conversation with the leaders of the Congress to develop a package of tools that would help prevent more terrorism," Ashcroft said.

"Talk won't prevent terrorism. Tools can help prevent terrorism and we've been working very hard to get that done.

"I'm deeply concerned about the rather slow pace we seem to be making this to come true for America," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said there are still unanswered questions concerning the measure.

"When do we do this, and how big will it be? And we haven't answered either of those questions yet," he said.

Some lawmakers have said Ashcroft's proposals might define terrorism too broadly.

Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, predicted two weeks ago that "we may have some problems."

The package outlined by Ashcroft would ease restrictions on wiretaps and search warrant requests. For example, the legislation would allow one court to authorize wiretaps for several jurisdictions.

Another provision would allow federal investigators to seize the voice mail of suspected terrorists with a search warrant.

Still another would authorize surveillance of non-Americans in the United States for up to a year.

Ashcroft wants to allow broader disclosure of secret grand jury information, including sharing it with intelligence operatives.

The legislation would make it a crime for anyone to harbor terrorists

And it would allow the Immigration and Naturalization Service to detain or remove individuals with ties to terrorist groups. Under current law, a connection must exist to a specific individual.

Some privacy groups have quietly been raising concerns that the U.S. reaction to the terrorist attacks may lead to an erosions of civil liberties.

They fear the Bush administration may seek broad new law enforcement powers that go beyond fighting terrorism.