Posted on 01/29/2006 2:04:24 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday that President Bush has more explaining to do on his domestic spy program and cast doubt on the administration's assertion of broad executive power.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., said he is looking forward to congressional hearings on the legal justification for the secretive National Security Agency program. He remains unconvinced that Bush could allow the program without fully consulting with the courts or Congress.
The Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings beginning Feb. 6; the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold similar closed-door sessions on the matter.
"If in fact the president does believe that our current laws are restricting him because of new technologies ... then he should come together with Congress and say we need to amend it," Hagel said on ABC's "This Week."
Bush has defended his decision to bypass a 1978 law that requires government lawyers to go to a secretive court for warrants to conduct domestic surveillance, saying the law is too cumbersome to deal with in a post-9/11 world of heightened security threats.
On Sunday, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett said Bush has ample constitutional authority as commander in chief and under a 2001 congressional resolution authorizing force in the war against terror. Additional briefings and debate with Congress could risk security by tipping off the enemy, he said.
"There's no way that we can confidently say that by having a debate about changing the law would not unearth new operational details that would only tell the enemy exactly how we're surveilling them," Bartlett said on CNN's "Late Edition." "That's something that is just unacceptable."
Hagel and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said they remain open to hearing testimony from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other administration officials but were uncertain that a president could have broad "blank check" authority.
They said both Republicans and Democrats were equally committed to fighting terrorism, and they rejected as unhelpful efforts by White House aide Karl Rove to make national security the top partisan issue in the November midterm elections.
"I think that I can make certain that we have the tools that are necessary to monitor calls from al-Qaida to U.S. citizens without going overboard and creating a situation in which, randomly, we are rifling through the e-mails and cell calls of ordinary American citizens," said Obama, who appeared on ABC.
Added Hagel: "National security is more important than the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. And to use it to try and get someone elected will ultimately end up in defeat and disaster for that political party."
McLame...is that you out there spreading that tripe boy?
Ditto.
Dipsh*t, Congress has done such a good job on the Patriot Act, I'm sure the would have whistled that right through.
Some of these people in Congress are a joke
If god forbid we are attacked again .. I will point the finger right at them
I have no other choice but to see this for what it is:
Treasonist tripe from a Traitor, helping the enemy....
I wouldn't be so angry if their numbers were few......
but everywhere I look, there they are: traitors........
each and every one of them.
I would say the effectiveness of the intercept
program is already diminished because of the disclosure and the continuous media/opposition political noise.
There is no doubt that hearings will result in operational details leaking out, further damaging the effort. President Bush does not want to go to the FISA court for an after the fact approval because he does not want to risk disclosure of methods/sources. He shouldn't have to in war time. The fewer people who know the operational details, the better.
a tea bag would stand a better chance of getting through the mail.
I've tried both before....LOL
We need to start rejecting this feeding frenzy the liberal press indulges in so balatantly.
All of this, and so much more, is:
"just another routine of Bush-bashing in the liberal press. There are too many Ahabs to count, all single-mindedly" miscreants out to harpoon our President.
You would almost think he's ....running for President!
Better yet, just sit down with Usama and lay out our efforts to thwart terrorist actions in our country.
That would be the politically correct thing to do.....
And until it hits their personal bag of political concerns, most politicians will maintain an anti-American stance for personal gain.
What an oxymoron....
I have trouble understanding the value of getting a warrant after the fact. What would the courts do say no, throw away whatever you have learned? If they had to wait before they listened in, it would be too late. I just don't understand this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.