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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (295561)	7/18/2006 3:46:53 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576709

Bush blocked review of spy program: Gonzales By Thomas Ferraro 2 hours, 4 minutes ago President Bush prevented a review earlier this year by Justice Department lawyers of his warrantless domestic spying program, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified on Tuesday. Gonzales told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, however, that he was confident the program's constitutionality would be upheld by a proposed review of it by a secret federal court. Gonzales said Bush refused to give the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility access to the classified program begun shortly after the September 11 attacks and disclosed in December by The New York Times. The office announced in May it was unable to conduct an investigation into the role department lawyers had in developing the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program, which targets overseas telephone calls and e-mails of Americans with suspected terrorists ties. Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, asked Gonzales why Bush declined access, saying, "Many other lawyers in the Department of Justice had clearance. Why not OPR?" Noting the importance of the program, Gonzales said: "The president of the United States makes decisions about who is ultimately given access." Specter and other lawmakers have questioned the legality of the program, and have pushed for a court review of it. The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requires warrants from the court for intelligence-related eavesdropping inside the United States. Bush has defended the program, saying he had the power in wartime to protect the nation. Specter announced last week he had negotiated a deal with the White House to clear the way for the FISA court review. He said Bush has promised to submit the program to the court for such an overall review, provided the U.S. Congress approves a bill to update electronic surveillance laws. Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat, asked Gonzales if the proposed review was adequate without a case-by-case review. Gonzales said, "We have confidence that the court will find that, in fact, this is a program that is constitutional." The administration is also working with Congress on how to try terrorism suspects after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that struck down its military tribunals. Gonzales, in a prepared statement, said "We all have a common goal: to provide flexible but fair procedures that will enable us to try al Qaeda terrorists ... without compromising our nation's values or the safety of the American people."