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Bush approved eavesdropping - official
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-17 14:27
"I want to know precisely what they did," Specter said. "How NSA utilized
their technical equipment, whose conversations they overheard, how many
conversations they overheard, what they did with the material, what purported
justification there was."
Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., a member of the
Judiciary Committee, said, "This shocking revelation ought to send a chill down
the spine of every American."
Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush chief of staff Andrew Card went to the
Capitol Friday to meet with congressional leaders and the top members of the
intelligence committees, who are often briefed on spy agencies' most classified
programs. Members and their aides would not discuss the subject of the closed
sessions.
The intelligence official would not provide details on the operations or
examples of success stories. He said senior national security officials are
trying to fix problems raised by the Sept. 11 commission, which found that two
of the suicide hijackers were communicating from San Diego with al-Qaida
operatives overseas.
"We didn't know who they were until it was too late," the official said.
Some intelligence experts who believe in broad presidential power argued that
Bush would have the authority to order these searches without warrants under the
Constitution.
In a case unrelated to the NSA's domestic eavesdropping, the administration
has argued that the president has vast authority to order intelligence
surveillance without warrants "of foreign powers or their agents."
"Congress cannot by statute extinguish that constitutional authority," the
Justice Department said in a 2002 legal filing with the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court of Review.
Other intelligence veterans found difficulty with the program in light of the
1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed after the intelligence
community came under fire for spying on Americans. That law gives government 錕斤拷
with approval from a secretive U.S. court 錕斤拷 the authority to conduct covert
wiretaps and surveillance of suspected terrorists and spies.
In a written statement, NSA spokesman Don Weber said the agency would not
provide any information on the reported surveillance program. "We do not discuss
actual or alleged operational issues," he said.
Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, former NSA general counsel, said it was troubling
that such a change would have been made by executive order, even if it turns out
to be within the law.
Parker, who has no direct knowledge of the program, said the effect could be
corrosive. "There are programs that do push the edge, and would be appropriate,
but will be thrown out," she said.
Prior to 9/11, the NSA typically limited its domestic surveillance activities
to foreign embassies and missions 錕斤拷 and obtained court orders for such
investigations. Much of its work was overseas, where thousands of people with
suspected terrorist ties or other valuable intelligence may be monitored.
The report surfaced as the administration and its GOP allies on Capitol Hill
were fighting to save provisions of the expiring USA Patriot Act that they
believe are key tools in the fight against terrorism. An attempt to rescue the
approach favored by the White House and Republicans failed on a procedural vote.
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