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Gonzales Tells Senators Spying Program Needed for War (Update2)
Feb. 6 2006 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told U.S. senators the Bush administration's domestic spying program is a legal and necessary tool to help stop al-Qaeda terrorists from attacking the nation again.
``It is the modern equivalent to a scout team sent ahead to do reconnaissance or a series of radar outposts designed to detect enemy movements,'' Gonzales said today at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. ``As with all wartime operations, speed, agility, and secrecy are essential to its success.''
Gonzales faces his biggest challenge yet as the top U.S. law-enforcement officer in trying to justify the eavesdropping to senators and the public. His testimony in Washington may help determine the future of the National Security Agency program that monitors, without a court order, phone calls and e-mails between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists overseas.
Gonzales defended the legality of the domestic spying without discussing its classified operational details. The committee's Republican chairman, Arlen Specter, and Democratic members have said the wiretapping may violate federal law.
``The terrorist surveillance program is lawful in all respects,'' Gonzales said. ``Presidents throughout our history have authorized the warrantless surveillance of the enemy during wartime. And they have done so in ways far more sweeping than the narrowly targeted terrorist surveillance program authorized by President Bush.''
`Blank Check'
As he opened the hearing, Specter said he is ``skeptical'' about the program even as the country faces a threat from al- Qaeda.
``The president of the United States has the fundamental responsibility to protect the country,'' said Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican. ``The president does not have a blank check.''
President George W. Bush confirmed the existence of the spying after it was disclosed in December. Last week, Bush said in his State of the Union address that the spying ``remains essential to the security of America.''
Critics say the domestic spying violates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which created a special court to authorize domestic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes. They are also concerned about what they call a move by the Bush administration to expand the powers of the presidency at the expense of Congress and the courts.
`Against the Law'
``Nobody is above the law, not even the president of the United States,'' the committee's ranking Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said today. ``This is against the law.''
Gonzales, who will be the only witness at today's hearing, argued that Congress gave Bush the power to order wiretapping without a warrant when it authorized the use of military force to combat terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said presidents during wartime, going back to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, have sought to protect the country with surveillance that wasn't authorized by court order.
``To end the program now would be to afford our enemy dangerous and potentially deadly new room for operation within our own borders,'' Gonzales said.
Leahy and the seven other committee Democrats last week renewed a request that the Justice Department turn over documents on the spying, including classified legal opinions by department lawyers. Specter said today he would defer that issue until another day.
Specter has said he plans one or two more sessions in the coming weeks to examine other aspects of the surveillance.
Last Updated: February 6, 2006 10:35 EST
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