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US lawmakers call for probe into domestic spying program
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-19 11:00
US Democrats and Republicans called separately for congressional
investigations into President George W. Bush's decision after the September 11,
2001, terrorist attacks to allow domestic eavesdropping without court approval.
"The president has, I think, made up a law that we never passed," said
Senator Russell Feingold, a Democrat.
Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, said he intends to hold hearings.
"They talk about constitutional authority," Specter said. "There are limits
as to what the president can do."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada also called for an
investigation, and House Democratic leaders asked Speaker Dennis Hastert to
create a bipartisan panel to do the same.
Bush acknowledged Saturday that since October 2001 he has authorized the
National Security Agency to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails
of people within the United States without seeking warrants from courts.
The New York Times disclosed the existence of the program last week. Bush and
other administration officials initially refused to discuss the surveillance or
their legal authority, citing security concerns.
"It's been briefed to the Congress over a dozen times, and, in fact, it is a
program that is, by every effort we've been able to make, consistent with the
statutes and with the law," Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday in an
interview with ABC News "Nightline" to be broadcast Monday evening: "It's the
kind of capability if we'd had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to
prevent 9/11."
Bush and other administration officials also have said congressional leaders
had been briefed regularly on the program. Senator John McCain, a Republican,
said there were no objections raised by lawmakers who were told about it.
"That's a legitimate part of the equation," McCain said on ABC's "This Week."
But he said Bush still needs to explain why he chose to ignore the law that
requires approval of a special court for domestic wiretaps.
Reid acknowledged he had been briefed on the four-year-old domestic spy
program "a couple months ago" but insisted the administration bears full
responsibility. Reid became Democratic leader in January.
"The president can't pass the buck on this one. This is his program," Reid
said on "Fox News Sunday." "He's commander in chief. But commander in chief does
not trump the Bill of Rights."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement Saturday
that she had been told on several occasions about unspecified activities by the
NSA. Pelosi said she expressed strong concerns at the time.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on "Fox News Sunday" that Bush "has
gone to great lengths to make certain that he is both living under his
obligations to protect Americans from another attack but also to protect their
civil liberties."
Several lawmakers weren't so sure. They pointed to a 1978 federal law, the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which provides for domestic surveillance
under extreme situations, but only with court approval.
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