2.07.2006
Gonzales Defends Legality of Surveillance (WashingtonPost.com)
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 6, 2006; 1:42 PM
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told a Senate committee today that a controversial surveillance program is "lawful in all respects" and that President Bush launched it under authority from both the Constitution and U.S. law.
But he said he could not give the panel "absolute assurance" that no one other than people linked to terrorists are being spied upon.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on what the administration calls a "terrorist surveillance program" run by the super-secret National Security Agency, Gonzales came under fire from committee Democrats, who characterized the program as illegal.
The committee chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), also challenged the attorney general, saying he was "skeptical" of the administration's assertion that Congress authorized the eavesdropping program when it approved a resolution on the use of force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), told Gonzales, "We all agree that if you have al Qaeda terrorists calling, we should be wiretapping them." However, he added, "instead of doing what the president has the authority to do legally, he decided to do it illegally without safeguards."
Leahy also noted that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed in 1978 to regulate eavesdropping on foreign agents in the United States, has been amended five times since the Sept. 11 attacks "to give it more flexibility."
(More ... Gonzales Defends Legality of Surveillance) ¶ 08:06
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 6, 2006; 1:42 PM
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told a Senate committee today that a controversial surveillance program is "lawful in all respects" and that President Bush launched it under authority from both the Constitution and U.S. law.
But he said he could not give the panel "absolute assurance" that no one other than people linked to terrorists are being spied upon.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on what the administration calls a "terrorist surveillance program" run by the super-secret National Security Agency, Gonzales came under fire from committee Democrats, who characterized the program as illegal.
The committee chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), also challenged the attorney general, saying he was "skeptical" of the administration's assertion that Congress authorized the eavesdropping program when it approved a resolution on the use of force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), told Gonzales, "We all agree that if you have al Qaeda terrorists calling, we should be wiretapping them." However, he added, "instead of doing what the president has the authority to do legally, he decided to do it illegally without safeguards."
Leahy also noted that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed in 1978 to regulate eavesdropping on foreign agents in the United States, has been amended five times since the Sept. 11 attacks "to give it more flexibility."
(More ... Gonzales Defends Legality of Surveillance) ¶ 08:06
