The anti-terrorism bill is a bipartisan compromise from similar measures approved earlier by the House and Senate. A chief difference is that the final legislation would have many of its provisions expire, or "sunset," in four years.

The White House had opposed any such limits, but was forced to accept them as part of the price of getting a measure that both the House and Senate could pass.

Many lawmakers said "sunsets" were a needed safeguard to help protect against future abuses of the war-time legislation.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said, "We did the White House a favor" by eliminating provisions that he called unconstitutional and said would have trampled civil liberties.

Changes made in the legislation included eliminating or revising provisions that would have allowed for the indefinite detention without charges of foreigners deemed security risks and the execution of search warrants without any notification.

ACLU DISSATISFIED

Regardless of the changes, the American Civil Liberties Union remained dissatisfied with the legislation, warning it still contained many provisions that could be used to violate the rights of law-abiding people.

Highlights of the legislation include provisions that:

--Make it a crime to knowingly harbor a terrorist.

--Authorize "roving wiretaps." This would grant court orders to wiretap any phone a suspected foreign terrorist might use rather than a specific phone. Many suspects now frustrate law enforcement by constantly switching phones.

--Make it easier for U.S. criminal investigators and intelligence officers to share intelligence information.

--Give the U.S. Treasury Department new powers to target foreign countries and banks deemed to be money-laundering threats.