President Bush on Wednesday implored Congress to allow the government to continue eavesdropping on the international communications of suspected terrorists without a court warrant. “You don’t have to worry about the motivation of the people out here,” Bush said during a visit to the National Security Agency in Maryland, where the eavesdropping takes place. “What we do have to worry about is to make sure that they have all the tools they need to do their job.”
In August, Congress gave authorities permission to conduct warrantless wiretapping by passing the Protect America Act, which expires on Feb. 1.
“That’s 135 days from today,” Bush said. “The threat from al Qaeda is not going to expire in 135 days.”
The president wants Congress to make the measure permanent and update the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which did not envision disposable cell phones or the Internet.
“When technology changed, legal protections meant only for the people in the United States began applying to terrorists on foreign soil,” Bush said. “As a result, our intelligence professionals reported that they were missing a significant amount of real-time intelligence needed to protect the American people.”
While Bush was urging Congress to make the Protect America Act permanent, the American Civil Liberties Union was calling for the law to be overturned.
“The original intent of the law has been stripped away and the language broadened to fit the wants of an overzealous administration,” said Michelle Richardson, the ACLU’s legislative consultant. “The laws governing our privacy should have a debate worthy of the Constitution and must include the protections inherent in the Fourth Amendment. Congress needs to quickly rightthis wrong.”
But Bush said anti-terrorism authorities need as many tools at their disposal as possible.
“Unfortunately, some in Congress now want to restrict the tools,” he said. “These restrictions would impede the flow of information that helps us protect our people. These restrictions would reopen gaps in our intelligence that we had just closed.”
