Key lawmaker questions value of Bush's domestic surveillance program

[Henk Elegeert]

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002801977_spying13.html
The Seattle Times: Politics: Key lawmaker questions value of Bush's
domestic surveillance program

"
Key lawmaker questions value of Bush's domestic surveillance program

By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The House intelligence-committee chairman on Sunday
questioned the value of President Bush's secret eavesdropping program,
saying al-Qaida undoubtedly has changed its means of communication to
avoid Washington's monitoring.

Bush said two weeks ago in his State of the Union address that the
program of monitoring calls and e-mail between the United States and
suspected terrorist associates overseas without a court warrant "remains
essential to the security of America." But Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.,
suggested that the public disclosure of the program's existence in
December in The New York Times has undermined its effectiveness.

"Does anyone really believe that, after 50 days of having this program
on the front page of our newspapers, across talk shows across America,
that al-Qaida has not changed the way that it communicates?" Hoekstra
said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Since that disclosure, legal scholars and lawmakers from both parties
have questioned whether Bush had the authority to conduct the
surveillance without a judge's approval.

By law, a secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is
designed to grant warrants for such surveillance.

Hoekstra defended the program's legal standing. He said if Democrats who
were briefed on the program before it became public thought the
president was breaking the law, they should have tried to stop him.

Rep. Jane Harman, the leading Democrat on the intelligence committee,
said the briefings she received concerned "the operational details of
the program," which she supported. "However," she added, "The briefings
were not about the legal underpinnings of the program."

She said it was not until Bush spoke publicly about the classified
program, after it was revealed in The New York Times, that she was free
to discuss it with House staff members and constitutional lawyers.

Hoekstra and Harman appeared with two others who were among the few
lawmakers to be briefed on the program before it became public: Senate
Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and former Sen. Tom
Daschle of South Dakota, who was the Senate Democratic leader.

The two Republicans — Hoekstra and Roberts — said Congress does not need
to pass further legislation granting specific authority to conduct the
warrentless eavesdropping because the president had authority under the
resolution that lawmakers passed four days after the attacks of Sept.
11, 2001, authorizing him to take on al-Qaida.

Both Democrats — Harman and Daschle — said they think the program is
valuable and should continue but that the law should be changed to allow it.

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
"

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