Democrats Propose Compromise to Expand Government Surveillance
By Ellen Nakashima and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 1, 2007; 5:24 PM
Congressional Democrats, under pressure from the Bush administration, today proposed a six-month compromise that would expand the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance of overseas communications in search of terrorists.
The proposal, according to House and Senate Democrats, would permit a secret court to issue a single broad order approving eavesdropping of communications involving suspects overseas and other people, who may be in the United States. That order "need not be individualized," according to a Democratic aide.
But granting the government authority to intercept calls with a broad warrant, some civil liberties advocates charge, could allow a large number of phone calls and e-mails of U.S. persons and companies to be intercepted as well.
A Democratic aide said that a bill likely would pass the House this week.
At issue is the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which requires the government to obtain an order from a secret court to conduct electronic surveillance of terrorist or intelligence suspects in the United States. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush authorized a secret warrantless wiretapping program that allowed the National Security Agency to intercept communications between individuals in the United States and others overseas when at least one party is suspected of links to terrorism.
That full extent of that program has never been disclosed. In January, it was put under the oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, though officials have never made public the precise terms of the court's oversight.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080101514.html