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White House compromises on NSA program
The White House on Thursday said it would compromise with Senate Republicans seeking to change the law on eavesdropping to include the government's controversial domestic spying programme.Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said he had reached an "agreement in principle" with the administration. The White House has been under fire since December when it emerged that President George W. Bush in 2001 authorised the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without warrants on the international communications of US citizens suspected of links to al-Qaeda or its affiliates. Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration had found "common ground" with Congress by agreeing to work on proposals put forward by Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican. Mr De Wine has proposed altering the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, under which a secret intelligence court can permit eavesdropping on Americans, to cover the NSA programme. The White House had previously argued that that Act was too burdensome, given the advances in modern telecommunications, but seemed resistant to the idea of a change in the law. Democrats, and some key Republicans, had called for an investigation to determine whether Mr Bush violated the constitution. Arlen Specter, Republican chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, this week said the NSA programme violated FISA. But he said it was unclear whether presidential war powers superseded the law. Mr Roberts on Thursday said his committee would not investigate the programme at this time, although he left open the possibility that the committee could return to the issue next month. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, accused the White House of interfering with the oversight role of Congress. "It is more than apparent to me that the White House has applied heavy pressure in recent days and recent weeks to prevent the committee from doing its job," he said. The American Civil Liberties Union said the proposed deal was a "clear indication that the White House knows it broke the law". That was categorically denied by the White House, which maintained that the president did not believe he required Congressional approval for the programme. Separately, the administration suffered a blow after a federal court ordered the Justice Department to release documents requested in a freedom of information request related to the NSA programme. The Justice department's office of professional responsibility has opened an investigation into the department's role in approving the NSA programme. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-17 |
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