Unease Rises Over Domestic Spying
Federal Judge Resigns From Spy Court, Three More 'Deeply Upset'
-
Play CBS Video Video Judge Resigns Over Spy Program To protest the president's decision to spy on Americans without a warrant, a judge took the unprecedented step of resigning from the court that can issue warrants in such cases. John Roberts reports.
-
Video Bush's Patriot Act Push Web Exclusive: President Bush says it's inexcusable for Congress to delay renewal of the Patriot Act. John Roberts reports, however, that some are concerned with individual privacy.
-
Video Is Bush's Spy Program Legal? Constitutional attorney Jonathan Turley analyzes whether or not President Bush is within his legal right as commander in chief to spy on Americans without obtaining a warrant.
-
-
President Bush defended his domestic surveillance program during a White House news conference, Monday, Dec. 19, 2005. (AP)
-
The resignation of U.S. District Judge James Robertson from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is seen as a reaction to domestic wiretaps ordered without warrants. (AP/US District Court)
-
-
Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
-
Special Report War On Terror Complete coverage of the military's battle against terrorism.
-
Interactive The 109th Congress Meet the leaders and follow the action in the House and Senate.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., the committee chairman, said he participated in at least six briefings on the spying program since August 2004. He said he is comfortable the surveillance was aimed at al Qaeda terrorists and people associated with al Qaeda inside the United States. Hoekstra also said lawmakers who were notified about the surveillance won't resign like Robertson.
"We all decided that we are going to stay, and we are going to keep our jobs," he said.
Under the spying program, secretly authorized by Mr. Bush in October 2001, the National Security Agency was permitted to eavesdrop without a judge's approval on communications between suspected terrorists overseas and people inside the United States.
New concerns were raised today by lawmakers that the eavesdropping accidentally swept up purely domestic conversations, Roberts reports.
Officials have said they only performed such wiretaps when there was a reasonable basis to conclude that the conversation included a suspected terrorist and one party was overseas. Citing national security, officials have declined to say how many times they have done so.
A court-approved wiretap under traditional surveillance law requires a higher legal standard, demonstrating probable cause to the spy court that the target is an agent of a foreign power, such as a terrorist group. That law also says no such wiretaps can be performed except under its provisions.
Since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, the government has focused on preventing and disrupting attacks rather than building court cases against suspected terrorists. But experts cautioned that future legal prosecutions could be tainted if evidence was uncovered about a terror plot using a wiretap determined to be improper.
"Imagine if there is evidence critical to a criminal prosecution and the defendant challenges the evidence because it is constitutionally suspect," said Beryl Howell, former general counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It could jeopardize any criminal case."
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From Politics
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
