Former CIA general counsel tells House Intelligence Bush didn't have wiretap authority

RAW STORY
Published: January 12, 2006

Former CIA general counsel Jeff Smith has issued a memo to the House Intelligence Committee concluding that Authority for Use of Military Force did not give President George W. Bush the right to order domestic wiretaps without a court order.

In the memo, Smith discusses court precedent, as well as civil liberties outlined in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Smith further concludes that Bush's secondary argument, that he has authority under the constitution to order such wiretaps, is "seriously undermined" by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which allows for similar surveillance only with a warrant. He further characterizes a president's constitutional power while acting against an existing statute as being at its "lowest ebb".

The 14-page memo can be read in its entirety here.

Smith is scheduled to attend Democrat-led hearings on NSA warrantless surveillance hearings later this month.

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