Just got the news about the pending legislation a couple of days ago, and been poking around to find some info on the proposed changes, and the original legislation (Jenkins, title 15 and 18 etc).
I found this info http://www.senate.gov/~kohl/press/060303.html
which seems to shed some light on what started the ball rolling. its all about, you guessed it, terrorists (I thought that smiley face looked a little suspicious).