Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Gonzales: Spy program 'vital ... warning system'

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Senators raised doubts about the legal rationale for the Bush administration's eavesdropping program yesterday, forcing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to provide a lengthy defense of the operations he called a vital "early warning system" for terrorists.

A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in raising questions about whether President Bush went too far in ordering the National Security Agency's monitoring operations. The senators were particularly troubled by the administration's argument that a September 2001 congressional resolution approving use of military force covered the surveillance of some domestic communications.

"The president does not have a blank check," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who wants the administration to ask the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review the program.

"You think you're right, but there are a lot of people who think you're wrong," Specter told Gonzales. "What do you have to lose if you're right?"

Gonzales didn't respond to Specter's proposal directly. "We are continually looking at ways that we can work with the FISA court in being more efficient and more effective," the former Texas judge said.

Under Bush's orders, the ultrasecret National Security Agency has been eavesdropping, without warrants, on international communications of people in the United States whose calls and e-mails may be linked to Muslim extremists.

Gonzales repeatedly defended the current program as lawful, reasonable and essential to national security. He said the president's authority was strongest in a time of war, and he called the monitoring operations an "early warning system designed for the 21st century." He said no changes in law were needed.

Specter said the committee would hold at least two more hearings, which may include Gonzales. Specter has also invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft to testify.