Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush agreed to changes in legislation authorizing his domestic terrorist- surveillance program, and three Republican senators who expressed doubts about the measure said they now will support it.

The legislation sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter would provide for review by a secret court of the National Security Agency's program of listening, without court warrants, to telephone calls between al-Qaeda operatives in the U.S. and overseas. Specter said it's ``hard to say'' whether he has the 60 votes needed for the Senate to take up the measure, and that he believes the changes will increase its chances of passage.

One revision would require the spy agency to get a court warrant to eavesdrop on international calls that originate in the U.S., Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters following a speech today to the National Press Club in Washington. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow confirmed that Bush had agreed to the changes.

``Right now, the program is operated so you don't have to have individualized warrants if they originate in the U.S. and if they originate overseas,'' said Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Three Republican senators who had voiced concern about the legislation, which Specter and Bush originally negotiated in July, said they would now support the legislation.

`United' in Support

``We are united in our support to provide law enforcement and the intelligence community the tools necessary to combat terrorism and to protect our nation,'' Senators John Sununu of New Hampshire, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Larry Craig of Idaho said in a statement. The changes will protect individual rights and ``ensure that Congress retains its authority to regulate and provide oversight throughout the surveillance process,'' they said.

Under federal wiretap law, the spy agency would not need a warrant to intercept a wireless transmission from a satellite of a call that originates in another country, said Nancy Libin, a counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group that opposes the legislation.

Congress has been debating ways to provide legal authority for the NSA program since its disclosure last December by the New York Times. Bush ordered the spy agency to intercept telephone calls and e-mails between al-Qaeda operatives in the U.S. and overseas after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Surveillance Court

The legislation would provide for the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review the wiretap program's legality. The court was set up in 1978 to grant secret warrants for intelligence-gathering and searches in cases of suspected espionage or terrorism.

Bush would not be required to submit the program for judicial review, though the president agreed to do so if Congress passed the legislation. The president would also not be required to halt the surveillance if the court objected to the program.

Specter said another change he negotiated would delete a sentence that would have said the legislation wasn't intended to limit the president's constitutional authority to conduct wiretapping to protect national security.

Another change would eliminate the attorney general's power to delegate the authority to initiate specific surveillances to other law enforcement officials.

Meantime, William H. Webster, a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and former FBI Director William Sessions were among 14 former government officials who urged Congress not to pass Specter's legislation.

In a statement, the 14 former government officials warned that ``legal uncertainty'' will result if Congress lets Bush conduct the eavesdropping outside the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. ``Making FISA optional rather than mandatory would significantly destabilize the balance struck'' by Congress ``between law and policy'' when it enacted the measure, the statement said.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 25, 2006 18:55 EDT