FORT MEADE, Md. - President Bush said Wednesday he wants Congress to expand and make permanent a law that temporarily gives the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on suspected foreign terrorists.
Without such action, Bush said, "our national security professionals will lose critical tools they need to protect our country."
"It will be harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to train, recruit and infiltrate operatives into America," the president said during a visit to the super-secret National Security Agency's headquarters. "Without these tools, our country will be much more vulnerable to attack."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs when the government must obtain warrants for eavesdropping from a secret intelligence court. This year's update — approved just before Congress' August break — allows more efficient interceptions of foreign communications.
Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop without a court order on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the U.S., even if an American is on one end of the conversation — so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance.
In requesting the change, the Bush administration said technological advances in communications had created a dire gap in the ability to collect intelligence on terrorists.
Such surveillance generally was prohibited under the original law if the wiretap was conducted inside the U.S., unless a court approved it. Because of changes in technology, many more foreign communications now flow through the U.S. The new law, known as the Protect America Act, allows those to be tapped without a court order.
Civil liberties groups and many Democrats say the new changes go too far. Democratic leaders in Congress set the law to expire in six months so that it could be fine-tuned; that process now is beginning on Capitol Hill.
Democrats hope for changes that would provide additional oversight when the government eavesdrops on U.S. residents communicating with overseas parties.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers understand the need to update the law, but also the need to protect the rights and liberties of Americans.
"For over five years, the president carried out a warrantless surveillance program that ignored the law and the role of court oversight," Rockefeller said. "Today, the president continues to seek unchecked surveillance powers that many of us in Congress cannot support. The fact is, the Protect America Act did provide authority for collection, but it did not include sufficient protections for Americans. There's no reason we can't do both," Rockefeller said.
"The president needs to step up to the plate and show that he is willing to work with Congress to get this important legislation passed."
Bush timed his visit to Fort Meade to press his case.
"The threat from al-Qaida is not going to expire in 135 days," he said, "so I call on Congress to make the Protect America Act permanent."
He also urged lawmakers to expand the law, not restrict it. One provision particularly important to the administration, but opposed by many Democrats, would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies which may have helped the government conduct surveillance before January 2007 without a court order.
Bush was joined at the podium in an NSA hallway by Vice President Dick Cheney, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and others.
The president received private briefings from intelligence officials and mingled with employees in the National Threat Operations Center. While cameras and reporters were in the room, the large video screens that lined the walls displayed unclassified information on computer crime and signal intelligence.
Along one wall at NSA is a sign that says, "We won't back down. We never have. We never will."

And just how many people have we captured by tapping Americans Phone lines? a big fat "0". None, nil, zilch, natta.
Click on the picture on the left to watch the video.
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How many attacks on American Soil? zero

Oh how quickly do the NEOCONS forget about 9/11/01.........Bush was elected in 2000. Took office in 2001. for eight months he was president, and didn't make one attempt to find Osama, investigate the aug 6th PDB, or even hold meetings with top terrorist task force officials.

Bush was busy sterilizing the Oval Office after Slick Willie got out.

That was a stupid excuse. Is that that the best you can come up with? A joke!! 9/11 cost Americans 3000 lives. And you make jokes about what the president was doing. Your not even funny.
What about the 3 months he spent in Crawford Tx. He surely wasn't thinking about getting Osama back for killing 17 soldiers who died in the Cole bombing.

He must have been busy planning the Superhighway we keep hearing about.

D.O.T... Isn't that in the trucking industry? Look up NASCO. If you dont believe that plan is already in action, you are a blind fool!!!

__________________
No NAFTA/NASCO Super corridor through the middle of our nation! America better wake the hell up before it's too late!!! Get educated on the North American Union and the New World Order for our children's sake.

I don't have a problem with the superhighway. We need to extend I-69 here in Indiana.

How DO you sleep at night knowing the government is plotting to change your way of life?

What exactly would be the benefit to Canada or Mexico in joining this "Union"?
Don't they already get pretty good benefits by being our neighbors?
Free military protecting them.
Accessible quality health care.
Close proximity to trading partners.

Not to mention Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton and O.J. Simpson to make television worth watching.

Are we now going to invade Toronto and make them stop saying "eh"?

What the super highway will bring.
An end to thousands of American container haulers. Closed ports, which would be thousands of jobs. More toll roads. Higher fuel taxes. More chicken houses and DOT inspections for Americans.
Ever seen a ####### get a level 3 inspection? Me neither. And you won't see a Mexican truck get a level 3 either.
Rick Perry signed into law, a bill that would make Texas, the state with the most toll roads by the end of his term. I don't pay tolls. They get re-imbursed on my check. But That effects the amount of raises I get. It affects the amount of money the company can offer in benefits, like health care, 401 contributions, etc etc.