Tomorrow's headlines Tonight

The Administration is pushing for stronger anti-terrorism laws, in developments sure to cause Democrats everywhere to shriek endlessly:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is emerging as a point man in the drive for tougher laws, yesterday noting Britain's ability to hold suspects without publicizing the charges.

Appearing on ABC News's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Mr. Chertoff said he would like to see a renewed look at U.S. laws that could give authorities here the flexibility to detain suspects for longer periods of time, noting that the British have such latitude.

"I think we should always review the law," Mr. Chertoff told "Fox News Sunday." "Certainly the ability to be as nimble as possible with surveillance, and their ability to hold people for a period of time gives them a legal advantage. We have to have a legal system to allow us to do that rather than punishing people after the fact."

Mr. Chertoff, who weeks ago was widely viewed in Congress as the beleaguered head of a troubled department, has emerged as the public face and voice of the U.S. government's response to the alleged London plot. Now the Department of Homeland Security has won praise for calibrated advisories and quick action that stopped passengers from potentially smuggling liquid explosives on airliners, but didn't unduly disrupt air travel. Although some critics considered the department late in responding to a well-known threat -- liquid bombs -- Mr. Chertoff's enhanced standing allows him to spearhead the call to re-examine America's counterterrorism laws by looking at how Britain fights terrorism.

The differences in how Britain and the U.S. approach counterterrorism strategies reflect a distinction between the two countries' legal systems and their definitions of civil liberties. British police and security agencies have greater authority and latitude than their American counterparts to conduct domestic surveillance and detain terrorism suspects.

Britain's newly revised terrorism laws permit the detention of suspects for 28 days without charge. In the U.S., suspects must be brought before a judge as soon as possible, which courts have interpreted to mean within 48 hours.

Nevertheless, the U.S. has been able to use existing laws to thwart what it said were terrorist plots in the making. During the weekend, three men from the Dallas area were arraigned in Michigan on terrorism-related charges.

So the game is afoot.