Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Arlen Specter said the Judiciary Committee he chairs will investigate a report that President George W. Bush authorized spying on American citizens and foreign nationals in the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

``That's wrong, clearly and categorically wrong,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said today on the Senate floor. ``This will be a matter for oversight by the Judiciary committee as soon as we can get to it in the new year -- a very, very high priority.''

The New York Times reported that Bush in 2002 secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without the court-approved warrants that are required for domestic spying. The international phone calls and e-mail messages of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people have been monitored without warrants to find numbers linked to al-Qaeda, the paper said.

The paper said it interviewed nearly a dozen current and former administration officials about the program and granted them anonymity because the information was classified. The officials said the administration is confident that existing safeguards protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, the Times said.

`Will Uphold Law'

Bush declined to comment directly on the New York Times report. ``We will uphold the law, and decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people,'' Bush told ``The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,'' according to a transcript of the show slated for broadcast tonight on PBS.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, interviewed earlier on NBC's ``Today'' show, said ``the president has been very clear that he would not order people to do things that are illegal.''

The presidential order Bush signed represents a change in responsibilities for the NSA, which traditionally monitors actions in foreign countries, the Times said.

The Bush administration briefed Congressional leaders about the program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court, the secret court in Washington that handles national security issues, the paper said.

Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, raised concerns with the Bush administration about the program, the Times said. Rockefeller's spokeswoman, Wendy Morigi, declined to comment on the NSA program, as did the NSA.

Specter's Plan

Specter told reporters he wants ``to know precisely'' what the NSA did: ``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.''

Asked what witnesses will be called before the panel, he said, ``We will start with the NSA and move from there to the attorney general, from there to the FBI if they were involved.''

He said the probe ``will take precedence over every other item that the committee has scheduled except for Alito.'' The committee's hearing on the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito begins Jan. 9. ``It will be the first order of business after Alito,'' Specter said.

`Deeply Troubling'

Other U.S. senators had mixed reactions to revelations about the NSA program. Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, said, ``The allegations, if true, are deeply, deeply troubling. If we needed a wake-up call for adequate civil-liberties protections to be written into our law, this is the wake-up call.''

Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said he only glanced Times article. ``If I were really concerned, I would have read it,'' he said.

Lott said some of his colleagues were overreacting to the potential for civil-liberties violations through this reported NSA program and the 2001 Patriot Act, which gives the FBI power to track terrorist suspects. The Patriot Act is up for renewal.

``I don't agree with the libertarians,'' Lott said. ``I want my security first. I'll deal with all the details after that.''

The Times said it held off publishing its report for a year because the administration said that could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. Some information that administration officials said could be useful to terrorists was omitted, the paper said. McClellan declined to comment on whether the administration sought to have the story held.

The American Civil Liberties Union urged Congress to investigate and said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should appoint a special prosecutor to determine ``whether crimes have been committed,'' said Caroline Fredrickson, its legislative director.

``The administration is claiming extraordinary presidential powers at the expense of civil liberties and is putting the president above the law,'' Fredrickson said in a statement. Eavesdropping on conversations of Americans without a court order and without complying with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ``is both illegal and unconstitutional.''

To contact the reporter on this story: William McQuillen in Washington at bmcquille@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 16, 2005 15:21 EST