July 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration, consenting to some oversight of its conduct of the war on terrorism, has agreed to allow a federal court to review the constitutionality of its secret National Security Agency domestic eavesdropping program.

President George W. Bush will support legislation that calls for review and updates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to take into account new eavesdropping techniques, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said today. Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will introduce the measure.

The legislation ``reflects the fact that we're in a new kind of war,'' Gonzales told reporters at the Justice Department in Washington. ``My understanding from the president is that this legislation can be very helpful in protecting Americans.''

Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who has been critical of the warrantless eavesdropping program instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said his legislation will direct a special court set up to authorize intelligence wiretaps to decide whether the program is lawful.

The measure upholds the principle that ``there has to be judicial review before you can wiretap,'' Specter said. The bill wouldn't require individual warrants, which the administration contends are impractical, ``because I can't deal with that, not knowing what the program is,'' Specter said.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, set up by the 1978 law, will review the program. The court governs electronic surveillance and physical searches of foreign powers and their agents inside the U.S. It is the court that the Bush administration bypassed in creating the domestic eavesdropping program.

After a month of negotiations, Specter and the president met July 11 to hammer out their compromise. Bush had insisted that Article II of the Constitution allows him to take emergency steps to protect the American people from terrorist threats.

`Constitutional Authority'

The measure ``recognizes the president's constitutional authority to gather up information,'' Gonzales said. ``I am confident in the constitutionality of everything that we are doing in the executive branch,'' he said.

Specter qualified that analysis. ``The bill does not say the president has the constitutional authority to ignore FISA,'' he told reporters, referring to the 1978 surveillance law.

The proposed legislation wouldn't require the president to submit the NSA's electronic surveillance of terrorist phone calls to court review, Specter said. Instead, Bush agreed with Specter to submit the program for court review if Congress enacts the bill as drafted. This way, future presidents wouldn't be bound to submit any potential future surveillance program for review, Specter said.

The court review envisioned by the agreement between Specter and the White House doesn't cover the NSA's data mining of telephone company records, Specter said.

Rather than confirm whether there are additional NSA programs, Specter said he was assured by Gonzalez that there are no other spy programs that have not been court approved.

The bill as proposed would give the administration additional surveillance tools, including expanding to seven days from three days the amount of time the U.S. can conduct warrantless wiretaps. It would further authorize roving wiretaps that follow individuals from device to device, Specter said.

Streamline Procedures

It would also streamline the procedures the Department of Justice must follow for obtaining wiretap warrants from the intelligence court by allowing the attorney general to designate an applicant and specifying the considerations that must be met, Specter said.

``The bill has to be passed in the form negotiated,'' Specter said. Bush ``has agreed to it'' and expressed a ``willingness to cooperate'' with the Congress on any additional requirements sought by Congress.

Specter predicted the both Senate and the House would agree to the legislation and said he hoped the Judiciary Committee will act this month.

In a statement, Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, called said the oversight in the proposed legislation ``a sham'' that would codify Bush's ``abuse of power'' by ignoring laws passed by Congress. The ACLU has challenged the program's legality in a lawsuit.

Specter said the measure leaves to the intelligence court the decision of whether to make public the results of its review. He noted that the intelligence court doesn't announce its decisions on secret warrants.

Appeal Process

If the intelligence court rules the NSA surveillance program unconstitutional, the attorney general would have an opportunity to revise and resubmit it, Specter said. The administration may also appeal the court's decision, ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court.

``One thing about this country, when the Supreme Court rules, that's it,'' Specter said.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have previously argued that the president has the legal authority under the Constitution and a law authorizing the use of force in response to the terrorist attacks to order surveillance of telephone calls and e-mails from inside the U.S. to suspected terrorists overseas.

Specter said the believed the agreement with the White House was a ``pragmatic'' approach that would ``balance'' the president's responsibilities to protect national security with the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.

To contact the reporters on this story: William Roberts in Washington at wroberts@bloomberg.net Robert Schmidt in Washington at rschmidt5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 13, 2006 17:41 EDT