Dispute looms over wiretapping changes
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration quickly locked horns with Democratic lawmakers Thursday over its revised domestic wiretap program, signaling that the government likely would oppose efforts to release new court orders from a clandestine court that now governs the spying.
The head of the secret court that approved the program said she has no objection to releasing the documents, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte indicated the administration was likely to resist.
The conflict followed the administration’s announcement Wednesday that it would dismantle the counterterrorism surveillance program run by the National Security Agency and instead conduct the eavesdropping under the authority of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which issues warrants in spy and terrorism cases.
Thursday’s debate underscored continued skepticism among Democrats and some Republicans over the parameters and legality of the administration’s surveillance efforts – even with court approval – and signaled that Congress and the executive branch are likely to continue sparring over the details.
Some new information on the revised spying program emerged Thursday. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Justice Department briefers told him the effort was based on “individualized” warrants, rather than a blanket order.
Four people who have been briefed on the program described it as a hybrid effort that includes individual warrants and authority for eavesdropping more broadly.
Administration officials have declined to provide details of how the new version of the program will operate, including whether the government must obtain warrants for each person targeted for surveillance. Officials say the orders from a judge of the intelligence court adhere to the limits of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, the 1978 statute that governs clandestine spying in the United States.
Leading Democrats said Thursday that there were still too many unanswered questions about the way the program would be conducted. Specter and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, demanded the release of the FISA judge’s orders that were issued on Jan. 10, allowing the new program.
Those demands were bolstered by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, who wrote in a letter to Leahy and Specter that she had “no objection to this material being made available” to lawmakers. But Kollar-Kotelly said the final decision was up to the Justice Department.
Gonzales, appearing before the judiciary committee, said he could not guarantee release of the orders because of classified information restrictions. Negroponte told the House intelligence committee that letting the secret court turn over information about the program to Congress may violate separation of powers provisions.