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Bush: Spying Vital to Security

Posted on: Monday, 2 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By DEB RIECHMANN

Bush: Spying vital to security

SAN ANTONIO President Bush strongly defended his domestic spying program on Sunday, calling it legal as well as vital to thwarting terrorist attacks, and contended the leak making it public had caused great harm to the nation.

This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America and, I repeat, limited, Bush said after visiting wounded troops at Brooke Army Medical Center.

I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemys thinking.

In Washington, lawmakers are preparing for hearings to consider Bushs domestic spying program.

Four senators two of them Republicans indicated Sunday that congressional hearings were appropriate for considering Bushs assertion he had constitutional and congressional authority to authorize domestic wiretaps without a court order in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In the first few weeks we made many concessions in the Congress because we were at war and we were under attack, said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. We still have the possibility of that going on, so we dont want to obviate all of this. But I think we want to see what, in the course of time, really works best.

The New York Times reported last month that the National Security Agency had been conducting warrantless surveillance since 2002. Bush then acknowledged that he had authorized the NSA program and pointed to informing congressional leaders and regular reviews by administration officials as evidence of oversight for the program.

The Justice Department on Friday opened an investigation into the leak that resulted in news stories about the secret order to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists.

The fact that somebody leaked this program causes great harm to the United States, Bush said before returning to Washington from a holiday break at his Texas ranch. Theres an enemy out there.

Bush stressed that the surveillance involved telephone calls from a few numbers outside the United States by people associated with al- Qaida, the terrorist organization that plotted the Sept. 11 attacks. The White House later clarified Bushs remarks, saying he meant to say calls going to and originating from the U.S. were being monitored.

It seems logical to me that if we know theres a phone number associated with al-Qaida or an al-Qaida affiliate and theyre making phone calls, it makes sense to find out why, he said. They attacked us before, theyll attack us again.

Bush didnt answer a reporters question about whether he was aware of any resistance to the program at high levels of his administration and how that might have influenced his decision to approve it.

The Times reported Sunday that a top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the NSA program and would not sign off on its continued use as required by the administrations guidelines.

James B. Comey, a top deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, was concerned with the programs legality and oversight, the Times and Newsweek reported. Administration officials then went to Ashcroft, who had been hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, to gain his approval, according to the newspaper, but it was unclear whether Ashcroft gave his approval.

Neither Comey nor Ashcroft would comment on the meeting, according to the Times. White House spokesman Trent Duffy declined Sunday to answer questions about the administrations internal discussions.

Many Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have questioned whether Bushs actions went beyond the constitutional powers and congressional resolution he has cited. In 1978 Congress established a secret court to handle sensitive requests for surveillance and to issue warrants a system the NSA program bypassed.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has called for hearings into the program. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Sunday that he would prefer that any hearings be held by the Intelligence Committee, which likely would be in secret.

Were already talking about this entirely too much out in public as a result of these leaks ... and its endangering our efforts to make Americans more secure, McConnell said.

Appearing with McConnell on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Justice Department investigation should explore the motivation of the person who leaked the information.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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