Senators Say They Weren't Briefed on Wiretapping (Update2)

By Jeff Bliss

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. senators said they weren't fully consulted about a secret program to wiretap terrorist suspects without court approval.

President George W. Bush defended the wiretapping program at a news conference yesterday, saying congressional leaders had ``been briefed more than two dozen times'' since the National Security Agency was first allowed to conduct the surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said the Constitution gave the president authority to approve eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, who plans hearings on the wiretapping next month, said the administration's briefings weren't thorough enough to ensure adequate oversight of the program by Congress.

``It does not constitute a check and a balance,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters in Washington yesterday. ``You can't have the administration and a set number of members alter the law.''

One of the lawmakers who was briefed on the surveillance program, Senator Jay Rockefeller, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, yesterday released a copy of a July 17, 2003, handwritten letter to Vice President Richard Cheney, expressing ``concerns'' after he was first briefed about the program that day.

``Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues,'' Rockefeller, a West Virginia lawmaker, wrote in the letter. ``I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.''

`Misrepresent the Facts'

Rockefeller said in a statement that he released the letter because comments this week by Bush and other members of the administration ``misrepresent the facts'' concerning the nature of the briefings provided to lawmakers.

``The record needs to be set clear that the administration never afforded members briefed on the program an opportunity to either approve or disapprove the NSA program,'' Rockefeller said. ``The limited members who were told of the program were prohibited by the administration from sharing any information about it with our colleagues, including other members of the intelligence committees.''

Rockefeller, in the 2003 letter, said the national-security prohibitions against him talking to staff or counsel about the NSA program made it difficult for Congress to act as a check on the executive branch. ``I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities,'' he wrote.

Calls for Investigation

Rockefeller urged the intelligence panel to immediately start an investigation of the wiretapping program, which fellow Democrats such as Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia have said violated the law.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said Rockefeller failed to raise his objections with him or Cheney and didn't propose legislation to remedy the situation.

``Now, when it appears to be politically advantageous, Rockefeller has chosen to release his two-and-a-half year old letter,'' Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said in a statement. ``Forgive me if I find this to be inconsistent and a bit disingenuous.''

Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, sent a letter today to presidential legal scholars to see if they thought Bush had admitted to an impeachable defense by authorizing the wiretapping.

Separately, Republican Senators Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska joined two Democratic colleagues, Dianne Feinstein of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon, in sending a letter to Republican and Democratic Senate leaders asking for a joint investigation by the judiciary and intelligence committees.

`Nothing in the Law'

Asked by reporters in Washington if he thought Bush broke the law, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy said: ``I find nothing in the law that allows him to do what he did. Nor for that matter do I see any reason why he had to do that. There was a good law on the books he could have followed. I wish he had.''

Cheney told reporters on Air Force Two that Americans would side with the administration and its decision to authorize the wiretapping. ``The actions that we've taken there are totally appropriate and consistent with the constitutional authority of the president,'' he said en route to Washington from the Middle East. ``When the American people look at this they will understand and appreciate what we're doing and why we're doing it.''

Patriot Act

The secret program was disclosed in an article by the New York Times on Dec. 16; the disclosure played a role in blocking the renewal last week of the Patriot Act, an antiterrorism law that expands the FBI's wiretapping power.

Former Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, said in a statement yesterday that the Bush administration briefed him between 2002 and 2004 on NSA counterterrorism efforts. The briefings didn't include many aspects of the program that have now come to light, Daschle said.

``It now also appears the briefers omitted key details, including important information about the scope of the program,'' said Daschle, who is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Feinstein, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said she was frustrated when she asked Rockefeller several days ago to tell her about the NSA program and he couldn't comment.

`Entitled' to Oversight

``I'm entitled to do oversight,'' she said in an interview.

Specter said he questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' reliance on a statute about the use of power as justification for the NSA program. ``I am skeptical of the attorney general's citation of authority, but I'm prepared to listen.''

Gonzales' reluctance to ask Congress for more wiretapping authority because he thought it wouldn't be granted indicates the administration didn't believe current law justified the NSA program, Specter said.

``If he didn't think he could get Congress to act, why does he think Congress intended to give those broad powers in the force resolution,'' Specter said.

Specter said the Times story about the program caught him off guard last week as he was defending a renewal of the USA Patriot Act. ``It was like a cannonball between my eyes,'' he said.

In a radio address Dec. 17 and again at a press conference yesterday, Bush defended the wiretapping program as an essential tool in protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism.

``To save American lives we must be able to act fast,'' the president said at the White House yesterday. The surveillance ``has been effective in disrupting the enemy.''

No Regrets

He said he had no regrets about authorizing the NSA to monitor telephone conversations and e-mails from within the U.S. that involve people overseas. He said he would continue to do so ``so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens.''

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act sets up a system for judicial approval before such surveillance can be conducted. Bush said he ``absolutely'' has the power to authorize the wiretaps under the Constitution and statutes passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

``This is a different era, a different war,'' Bush said. ``This is where people are changing phone numbers and phone calls and moving quick. It requires quick action.''

`Limited'

The eavesdropping is ``limited,'' Bush said, aimed at ``people with known links to al-Qaeda.''

Gonzales, the attorney general, said the electronic surveillance is limited in its application and applies only when ``one party to the communication is outside the U.S.''

The U.S. isn't ``spying on American citizens calling their neighbors,'' he said.

Before interception of communications occurs, Gonzales said, the U.S. also must have ``a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the communication is a member of al-Qaeda, affiliated with al-Qaeda or member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda or working in support of al-Qaeda.''

Senate Democrats called on the leadership of the Republican majority to schedule a congressional review of the wiretapping.

The House and Senate intelligence committees ``ought to have vigorous, immediate hearings on this,'' Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said yesterday at the Capitol.

Senator Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, said Bush's contention that the statutes passed after Sept. 11 gave him authority to approve the eavesdropping is ``one of the weakest legal arguments I've ever heard.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington at jbliss@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 20, 2005 18:08 EST

		Email this article Printer friendly format