Bush Says Domestic Surveillance 'Limited'


WASHINGTON - President Bush is standing firmly behind his domestic spying program, saying his decision to let the intelligence community listen in on phone calls Americans have with suspected terrorists is lawful and does not result in widespread domestic eavesdropping.



Bush, whose decision is facing congressional hearings on the surveillance, said Sunday that the program, run by the ultra-secret National Security Agency, is limited. He left little doubt that he intends to vigorously argue that he acted within the law.

"The NSA program is one that listens to a few numbers," the president told reporters after visiting with 51 wounded troops and their families at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

"In other words, the enemy is calling somebody and we want to know who they're calling and why," he said before returning to Washington.

Senators suggested, meanwhile, that congressional hearings were appropriate for considering Bush's assertion that he did not overstep his constitutional authority in authorizing the program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. His order gave the NSA permission to eavesdrop without a warrant on communications between suspected terrorists overseas and people inside the United States.

Sen. Richard Durbin (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., told CNN's "Late Edition" that Congress will focus in the new year on presidential powers in wartime. "The White House wants to expand that power in so many areas," he said. "Clearly, Congress is holding back."

The New York Times disclosed last month that the NSA had been conducting the domestic surveillance since 2002. The Justice Department on Friday opened an investigation into who told reporters about the program.

"The fact that somebody leaked this program causes great harm to the United States," Bush said.

Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., appearing on "Fox News Sunday," said the Justice Department investigation should explore the motivation of the person who leaked the information.

"Was this somebody who had an ill purpose, trying to hurt the United States?" Schumer asked. "Or might it have been someone in the department who felt that this was wrong, legally wrong, that the law was being violated?"

Bush didn't answer a reporter's question about whether he was aware of any resistance to the program at high levels of his administration and how that might have influenced his decision to approve it.

The Times reported Sunday that a top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the NSA program and would not sign off on its continued use as required by the administration's guidelines.

James B. Comey, a top deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, was concerned with the program's legality and oversight, the Times and Newsweek magazine reported. Administration officials then went to Ashcroft, in a hospital for gallbladder surgery, to gain his approval but it was unclear whether he gave it, the Times said.

Neither Comey nor Ashcroft would comment on the meeting. White House spokesman Trent Duffy declined Sunday to answer questions about the administration's internal discussions.

Schumer released a letter he sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., suggesting that current and former administration officials, including Comey and Ashcroft, be called to testify before Congress, and that the administration waive executive privilege.

Administration officials have said the program performs wiretaps only when there is a reasonable basis to believe that the conversation includes a suspected terrorist and that one party is overseas.

"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America and, I repeat, limited," Bush said. "I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy's thinking."

Asked what he would say to those who claim the eavesdropping violates privacy, Bush said: "I can say that if somebody from al-Qaida is calling you, we'd like to know why. ... This program is conscious of people's civil liberties, as am I."

His order, however, bypassed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a little-known panel of 11 federal judges that approves wiretaps and searches in the most sensitive terrorism and espionage cases.

The president denied misleading the public during a 2004 appearance in support of the Patriot Act when he said: "Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."

Bush said his comments — two years after approving the NSA program — applied to roving wiretaps the Patriot Act allows for law enforcement, not the kind of eavesdropping the agency does to collect intelligence.