FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) - President Bush said Wednesday he wants Congress to expand and make permanent a law that temporarily gives the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on suspected foreign terrorists.
Without such action, Bush said, "our national security professionals will lose critical tools they need to protect our country."
"It will be harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to train, recruit and infiltrate operatives into America," the president said during a visit to the super-secret National Security Agency's headquarters. "Without these tools, our country will be much more vulnerable to attack."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs when the government must obtain warrants for eavesdropping from a secret intelligence court. This year's update - approved just before Congress' August break - allows more efficient interceptions of foreign communications.
Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop without a court order on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the U.S., even if an American is on one end of the conversation - so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance.
In requesting the change, the Bush administration said technological advances in communications had created a dire gap in the ability to collect intelligence on terrorists.
(rest of article @ link)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070920/D8ROS8J06.html
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