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Senate Votes to Outlaw Bomb Making Instructions
Senate Votes to Outlaw Bomb-Making Info
by Rebecca Vesely
12:09pm 20.Jun.97.PDT The Senate has voted 94-0 to tack onto a Defense
Department spending bill an amendment that would prohibit the
distribution of bomb-making instructions in the United States.
Although the word "Internet" is not mentioned in the four-page
amendment, the legislation would outlaw Web sites, newspapers, zines,
and books that publish instructions on how to make a bomb - such as The
Anarchist's Cookbook and The Terrorist Handbook. Violators would face
fines and prison sentences of up to 20 years.
Sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who has been
trying to get the legislation on the books since 1995, the amendment
passed Thursday is narrowly written to include only the distribution of
material that has an "intent to harm."
In April, the Justice Department released a study that found there
indeed is a connection between the availability of bomb-making
instructions and the actual making of bombs. It also concluded that
legislation criminalizing the publication of such information, if
narrowly written, would not be a violation of the First Amendment. The
Justice Department determined that the distribution of such materials
is not a basic free-speech right, but an obstruction of justice.
The Senate will vote on the defense bill early next week. The bill -
and the amendment - will then go to a House conference committee.
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So people, do YOU want to give the government the right to decide what
is OK for you to read and what is not? Do you want to give the
government the power to burn books? That's really what we're talking
about here: giving the government the power to decide what we can read
and what we can think. If you want to fight this, but feel powerless to
do anything, I'll give you this bit of advice:
Do whatever you can.
If you can write letters to the editor of your local papers, do so. If
you can write letters to your representatives in Washington, do so. If
you can organize rallies, give speeches, or show support in some other
way, then do so. All of these things help to shape public opinion, and
the people in Washington are very sensitive to public opinion. They'll
only pass this bill if they think they can do so without raising a
stink. If we can make a stink, we can turn public opinion against all
forms of government censorship.
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From the Congressional Record:
FEINSTEIN addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
Amendment No. 419
(Purpose: To prohibit the distribution of certain information relating
to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction)
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from California [Mrs. Feinstein], for herself
and Mr. Biden, proposes an amendment numbered 419.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
At the end of subtitle E of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1074. CRIMINAL PROHIBITION ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF
CERTAIN INFORMATION RELATING TO EXPLOSIVES,
DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION.
(a) Unlawful Conduct.--Section 842 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(l) Distribution of Information Relating to Explosives,
Destructive Devices, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
``(A) the term `destructive device' has the same meaning as
in section 921(a)(4);
``(B) the term `explosive' has the same meaning as in
section 844(j); and
``(C) the term `weapon of mass destruction' has the same
meaning as in section 2332a©(2).
``(2) Prohibition.--It shall be unlawful for any person--
``(A) to teach or demonstrate the making or use of an
explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass
destruction, or to distribute by any means information
pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of
an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass
destruction, with the intention that the teaching,
demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance
of, an activity that constitutes a Federal criminal offense
or a State or local criminal offense affecting interstate
commerce; or
``(B) to teach or demonstrate to any person the making or
use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of
mass destruction, or to distribute to any person, by any
means, information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the
manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or
weapon of mass destruction, knowing that such person intends
to use the teaching, demonstration, or information for, or in
furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal
criminal offense or a State or local criminal offense
affecting interstate commerce.''.
(b) Penalties.--Section 844 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``person who violates
subsections'' and inserting the following: ``person who--
``(1) violations subsections'';
(2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``;
and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) violates subsection (l)(2) of section 842 of this
chapter, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more
than 20 years, or both.''; and
(2) in subsection (j), by striking ``and (i)'' and
inserting ``(i), and (l)''.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I send this amendment to the desk on
behalf of Senator Biden and myself.
For 3 years, Senator Biden and I have sent an amendment to the desk
which would prohibit the teaching of bomb making. Twice it passed this
body by unanimous consent, and twice in conference the amendment was
taken out.
Last year, when we made this amendment and this body graciously and,
I believe, wisely accepted it, it was replaced in conference with the
proviso that the Department of Justice would do a report to see whether
this amendment was well advised and would stand a constitutional test.
On April 29 of this year, the Department of Justice published a
report, and that report was entitled, ``Report on the Availability of
Bomb Making Information, The Extent to Which Its Dissemination is
Controlled by Federal Law, and the Extent to Which Such Dissemination
May be Subject to Regulation Consistent with the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution.''
The bottom line of the report is that the Department of Justice
agrees that it would be appropriate and beneficial to adopt further
legislation to address the problem of teaching bomb making directly, if
that can be accomplished in a manner that does not impermissibly
restrict the wholly legitimate publication and teaching of such
information or otherwise violate the first amendment.
In other words, the question presented by this is, when does the
first amendment end and when does conspiracy to commit a felony begin?
So the language in the amendment that we submit to this body today
has been reworked, strengthened and approved by the Department of
Justice. I would like to briefly read it. The language is as follows:
It shall be unlawful for any person--
(A) to teach or demonstrate the making or use of an
explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass
destruction, or to distribute by any means information
pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use
[[Page S5990]]
of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass
destruction, with the intention that the teaching,
demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance
of, an activity that constitutes a Federal criminal offense
or a State or local criminal offense affecting interstate
commerce . . .
Then there is an alternative:
or (b) to teach or demonstrate to any person the making or
use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of
mass destruction . . . knowing that such person intends to
use the teaching, demonstration, or information for, or in
furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal
criminal offense or a State or local criminal offense
affecting interstate commerce.
The penalty for violating this law would be a fine of $250,000 or a
maximum of 20 years in prison, or both.
Mr. President, according to terrorism expert, Neil Livingston, there
are more than 1,600 so-called mayhem-manuals in circulation. I outlined
some examples of what I am talking about.
I will never forget, Mr. President, and you are a member of the
Judiciary Committee--I don't believe you were on the committee at the
time--but when a document entitled ``The Terrorist's Handbook'' was
circulated, I believe at that time Senator Kennedy and I couldn't
believe it. So I went back to my office and asked my staff to download
what is called ``The Terrorist's Handbook.'' The cover of ``The
Terrorist's Handbook'' reads something like this:
Stuff you are not supposed to know about.
Whether you are planning to blow up the World Trade Center,
or merely explode a few small devices on the White House
lawn, the Terrorist's Handbook is an invaluable guide to
having a good time. Where else can you get such wonderful
ideas about how to use up all that extra ammonium triiodide
left over from last year's revolution?
And then this handbook, which I have in my hand, goes on to tell
people how to break into a building, how to pick a lock, how to break
into a chem lab in a college, how to look like a student. It produces
techniques for picking locks. It goes on and tells you what useful
household chemicals you should use. And then it goes on to explain,
with specificity, how to make a light-bulb bomb, a book bomb, a phone
bomb, and it goes on and on and on.
Mr. President, there is no legal, legitimate use for a phone bomb,
for a book bomb, for a baby-food bomb, all of which are described in
this handbook. When it is put in this context, the context of
criminality, it is my belief that the person who puts this up on the
Internet becomes a conspirator in the ability to commit a major crime
in the United States.
An interesting thing that we have found is that individuals who have
committed these crimes have actually had at least some of these
publications in their home when they were arrested.
According to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the following
publications were found among Timothy McVeigh's possessions: ``Homemade
C-4, A Recipe for Survival.'' My staff just went over to the Library of
Congress and tried to take out a copy of this. Incidentally, it is
missing from the library.
``Ragnar's Big Book of Homemade Weapons and Improvised Explosives.''
So we know that materials on the Internet are used by terrorists to
commit terrorist acts. We also know that the number of explosive
devices now being found are increasing. Authorities have stated that
the rise is attributable to a rise in Internet use. This is certainly
true in Los Angeles County. During the first half of 1996, these
numbers of explosive devices have increased dramatically; 178 were
found compared to 86 total in 1995.
Responses by the Los Angeles Police Department to reports of
suspected bombs have shot up more than 35 percent from 1994 to 1995.
The LAPD found 41 explosives in 1995, more than double the number 3
years ago. And it goes on and on and on.
One thing is also very interesting. Not only are terrorists using
this, but children are using this.
Not too long ago there was a cartoon in a newspaper. It really
describes what is happening. A mother is on the telephone saying to a
friend, ``* * * history, astronomy, science, Bobby is learning so much
on the Internet * * *'' And there is Bobby sitting by his computer, and
what Bobby is doing here is putting a timer on six sticks of dynamite
looking at the Internet and following the recipe. Of course what that
leads to is something like this:
Three Boys used Internet to Plot School Bombing, Police
Say.
That is the New York Times.
Something like this:
Internet Cited for Surge in Bomb Reports.
Police and sheriffs officials say Web sites provide
youngsters with information on making explosives.
Yesterday, June 18, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported on the
pending trial of 15-year-olds Burke DeCesare and Adam Walker, who were
charged with planting a bomb in their Catholic school. They are eighth
graders. They live in the Bayview neighborhood. They broke into Saint
Coleman Catholic School in Pompano Beach around 2 a.m. on February 24,
1996. They planted a gasoline bomb in the ceiling of classroom 116.
Bomb experts from the Broward Sheriff's Office said the device, made
with gasoline, was wired to explode at the flick of a light switch.
This is taught--the recipe for this is in one of these manuals. The
boys told police they got the instructions to build the bomb from the
Internet.
Nine days ago, on June 10, 1997, the Cleveland Dispatch reported the
arrest of a North Side 15-year-old who built a homemade bomb with
information he gathered from the Internet. The Columbus Fire Division
bomb squad was required to remove devices from the kitchen and the
basement of the parents' homes. Neighbors, who lived within 500 feet of
the home, were evacuated for 2 hours.
Columbus police reported that one device consisted of a quart Mason
jar containing lighter fluid and Styrofoam, with an M-90 inserted into
the Mason jar cap which served as an igniter. This young man told his
parents he learned to make the bomb on the Internet.
Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that two 14-year-old boys
were arrested in Yorba Linda, CA, after crafting eight pipe bombs and
detonating one of them. The bomb caused a fire, charring 400 feet of
land behind a home on Grandview Avenue. After admitting they sparked
the fire with the bomb, the boys told investigators they had seven more
bombs inside the house. The bombs were fashioned with information from
the Internet.
In May of this year, the Baltimore Sun reported that two teenagers in
Finland face charges over an explosion from Finland's second ``Internet
bomb'' in a week. Sixty people were evacuated. And it goes on and on
and on.
In Orange County, police say teenagers may have used the Internet to
help construct acid-filled bottle bombs in Mission Viejo and Huntington
Beach, one of which burned a 5-year-old boy when he found it on a
school playground.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, between
1992 and 1995, 15 juveniles were killed and 366 injured in the United
States while making explosive devices. Most of this comes right off of
the Internet.
The Justice Department, on a single Web site, obtained the titles to
over 110 different bombmaking texts.
The point here is that this material is now so easy to get. When it
is put in something like a terrorist handbook and you are told what to
use, how to steal it, how to dress like a college student, how to break
into a chem lab, how to use cardboard to stuff in the lock so you can
come back at night, how to go home and how to go into your kitchen and
make one of these bombs, and then how to go out and explode it wherever
you want--there is no legitimate legal use for this information.
There is only a criminal purpose for this information. There is no
legal use for a baby food bomb, for a phone bomb, for a book bomb. You
do not blow up a tree stump if you are a farmer in the field with one
of these. There is no legal use. So I am hopeful--I know that we are
into the third year of this amendment--that it will in fact survive a
conference committee. I understand that both sides are willing to
accept the amendment.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a summary of the
Department of Justice report be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[[Page S5991]]
Summary of the Report on the Availability of Bombmaking Information,
The Extent to Which its Dissemination is Controlled by Federal Law, and
the Extent to Which Such Dissemination May be Subject to Regulation
Consistent with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
(Prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice)
Introduction and Summary
In section 709(a) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act of 1996 [``the AEDPA''], Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110
Stat. 1214, 1297 (1996), Congress provided that, in
consultation with such other officials and individuals as she
considers appropriate, the Attorney General shall conduct a
study concerning--
(1) the extent to which there is available to the public
material in any medium (including print, electronic, or film)
that provides instruction on how to make bombs, destructive
devices, or weapons of mass destruction;
(2) the extent to which information gained from such
material has been used in incidents of domestic or
international terrorism;
(3) the likelihood that such information may be used in
future incidents of terrorism;
(4) the application of Federal laws in effect on the date
of enactment of this Act to such material;
(5) the need and utility, if any, for additional laws
relating to such material; and
(6) an assessment of the extent to which the first
amendment protects such material and its private and
commercial distribution.
Section 709(b) of the AEDPA, in turn, requires the Attorney
General to submit to the Congress a report containing the
results of the study, and to make that report available to
the public.
Following enactment of the AEDPA, a committee was
established within the Department of Justice [``the DOJ
Committee''], comprised of departmental attorneys as well as
law enforcement officials of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Treasury Department's Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The committee members divided
responsibility for undertaking the tasks mandated by section
709. Some members canvassed reference sources, including the
Internet, to determine the facility with which information
relating to the manufacture of bombs, destructive devices and
other weapons of mass destruction could be obtained. Criminal
investigators reviewed their files to determine the extent to
which such published information was likely to have been used
by persons known to have manufactured bombs and destructive
devices for criminal purposes. And legal experts within the
Department of Justice reviewed extant federal criminal law
and judicial precedent to assess the extent to which the
dissemination of bombmaking information is now restricted by
federal law, and the extent to which it may be restricted,
consistent with constitutional principles. This Report
summarizes the results of these efforts.
As explained in this Report, the DOJ committee has
determined that anyone interested in manufacturing a bomb,
dangerous weapon, or a weapon of mass destruction can easily
obtain detailed instructions from readily accessible sources,
such as legitimate reference books, the so-called underground
press, and the Internet. Circumstantial evidence suggests
that, in a number of crimes involving the employment of
such weapons and devices, defendants have relied upon such
material in manufacturing and using such items. Law
enforcement agencies believe that, because the
availability of bombmaking information is becoming
increasingly widespread (over the Internet and from other
sources), such published instructions will continue to
play a significant role in aiding those intent upon
committing future acts of terrorism and violence.
While current federal laws--such as those prohibiting
conspiracy, solicitation, aiding and abetting, providing
material support for terrorist activities, and unlawfully
furthering civil disorders--may, in some instances, proscribe
the dissemination of bombmaking information, no extant
federal statute provides a satisfactory basis for prosecution
in certain classes of cases that Senators Feinstein and Biden
have identified as particularly troublesome. Senator
Feinstein introduced legislation during the last Congress in
an attempt to fill this gap. The Department of Justice agrees
that it would be appropriate and beneficial to adopt further
legislation to address this problem directly, if that can be
accomplished in a manner that does not impermissibly restrict
the wholly legitimate publication and teaching of such
information, or otherwise violate the First Amendment.
The First Amendment would impose substantial constraints on
any attempt to proscribe indiscriminately the dissemination
of bombmaking information. The government generally may not,
except in rare circumstances, punish persons either for
advocating lawless action or for disseminating truthful
information--including information that would be dangerous if
used--that such persons have obtained lawfully. However, the
constitutional analysis is quite different where the
government punishes speech that is an integral part of a
transaction involving conduct the government otherwise is
empowered to prohibit; such ``speech acts''--for instance,
many cases of inchoate crimes such as aiding and abetting and
conspiracy--may be proscribed without much, if any, concern
about the First Amendment, since it is merely incidental that
such ``conduct'' takes the form of speech.
Accordingly, we have concluded that Senator Feinstein's
proposal can withstand constitutional muster in most, if not
all, of its possible applications, if such legislation is
slightly modified in several respects that we propose at the
conclusion of this Report. As modified, the proposed
legislation would be likely to maximize the ability of the
Federal Government--consistent with free speech protections--
to reach cases where an individual disseminates information
on how to manufacture or use explosives or weapons of mass
destruction either (i) with the intent that the information
be used to facilitate criminal conduct, or (ii) with the
knowledge that a particular recipient of the information
intends to use it in furtherance of criminal activity.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I conclude my statement simply with
this. This amendment has been put into this bill once before. It has
been put into the terrorism bill once. It has been passed by this body
twice. It has been reworked to withstand a first amendment challenge. I
am hopeful, with the history of what is happening in this country, that
Americans all across this land will say there is no first amendment
right to be a conspirator and teach someone how to make a bomb to blow
someone else up. So I am hopeful that this year it might survive a
conference.
I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
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My friend's bomb protest page
http://www.redshift.com/~frenchu/guns_bombs.htm
Chef-Boy-R-Dianne's Explosive Cafe.
The entire text to Amendment 419 can be found here as well.
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