Bush Says He Accepts Domestic Spy Hearings

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By James Gerstenzang
The Los Angeles Times

Wednesday 11 January 2006

Louisville, Kentucky - President Bush today said he welcomes a public investigation of his decision to let the National Security Agency spy on Americans, while delivering a lengthy defense of the program.

But he warned that any such undertaking must be done with great caution.

"There will be a lot of hearings and talk about that, but that's good for democracy - just so long as the hearings, as they explore whether or not I have the prerogative to make the decision I made, doesn't tell the enemy what we're doing," Bush said. "See, that's the danger."

He said that in approving the program he had to balance civil liberties against the need to find out "on a limited basis," what potential terrorists were plotting.

Critics have questioned whether it was legal to order a government agency to listen in on the conversations of American citizens and read their e-mails without court approval.

Bush spoke in response to a question during a citizens forum as he sought to take his case for the Iraq war directly to a small audience beyond Washington.

The president delivered about a 20-minute speech on the war in Iraq, followed by an hour-long question-and-answer session. The president immersed himself and an audience chosen by civic groups, business organizations and a university in a seminar not only on the war, but also on immigration, the role of church and state in Islamic society, education, and the challenges of preparing a new workforce for 21st century jobs.

The subject of the spying program, which was revealed by the New York Times last month, arose when Bush was asked whether those who disclosed it should be investigated by the Department of Justice. The department is conducting such a probe.

The president did not answer that question. But he used it to launch one of his longest public explanations of the program.

"I did say to the National Security Agency that they should protect America by taking the phone numbers of known Al Qaeda and or affiliates and find out why they are making phone calls into the United States, and I did so because the enemy still wants to hurt us," Bush said, adding that "if somebody is talking to Al Qaeda, we want to know why."

"Look," he said, referring to qualms about tapping Americans' phones and reading their communications, "I understand people's concerns."

He said that he had to make "the difficult decision between balancing civil liberties and, on a limited basis, and I mean a limited basis, try to find out the intention of the enemy."

Bush added that the program had been "fully scrutinized on a legal basis," and that it had been reauthorized several times, with lawyers from different government branches looking into it, and that congressional leaders - Republicans and Democrats - and both parties' leaders on the intelligence committees had been briefed on it.

"We gave them a chance to express their disapproval or approval of a limited program taking known Al Qaeda numbers, numbers from known Al Qaeda people, and just trying to find out why the phone calls were being made," the president said of the briefings for the eight members of the House and Senate..

He did not say that some senior government lawyers, including at least one top Justice Department official, expressed serious qualms about the program, and that senior Democrats who were informed of the program said they were given only limited information.

Bush said that before moving forward with the program, "I wanted to make sure I had all the legal authority necessary to make this decision as president."

He also said that the congressional resolution passed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks gave him the authority to use all the force he thought necessary to fight terrorists, and that the NSA program fell under that authority.

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Bush Insists He Has Power to Order Domestic Eavesdropping

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Agence France-Presse

Thursday 12 January 2006

President George W. Bush insisted he had the legal right to authorize a domestic eavesdropping program that has sparked outrage among civil liberty groups.

"I have the right as a commander-in-chief in a time of war to take action necessary to protect the American people," Bush said during a discussion on the "war on terror" with citizens in Louisville, Kentucky.

The revelation last month of the wiretap program run by the National Security Agency has sparked a debate about presidential powers, with civil libertarians contending that Bush overstepped his constitutional limits by authorizing it.

Bush's 2002 order enabled the NSA to monitor, without court warrants, the international telephone calls and electronic mail of US citizens with suspected ties to Al-Qaeda.

"It seems to me if somebody is talking to Al-Qaeda, we want to know why," Bush said Wednesday.

"I understand people's concerns about government eavesdropping. I share those concerns as well," he said.

"I had to make the difficult decision between balancing civil liberties and on a limited basis, and I mean limited basis, try to find out the intention of the enemy," Bush added.

Before authorizing the program, he said, he made sure he had "all the legal authority necessary to make this decision as your president."

Bush said the program was being scrutinized regularly to ensure it does not infringe on civil liberties.

Congressional hearings are planned on the matter.

"That's good for democracy," Bush said, "just so long as the hearings, as they explore whether or not I have the prerogative to make the decisions, doesn't tell the enemy what we're doing. That's the danger."

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