Domestic Spying Debate Heats Up

White House, Democrats, Intelligence Community All Weigh In On Wiretaps

(CBS/AP) 
However, the general did not give any specific evidence for his claim, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin, adding that Hayden stopped short of saying warrant-less eavesdropping would have entirely broken up the 9/11 plot (video) .

Before the attacks, head hijacker, Mohammed Atta, exchanged e-mails with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a key al Qaeda operative in Germany, using a simple code to discuss which targets to hit.

None of those communication were intercepted, not because of legal restrictions on NSA, Martin reports, but because American intelligence did not have a clue either man belonged to al Qaeda.

In addition, Martin adds, two of the hijackers were suspected members of al Qaeda, but the NSA's inability to intercept their calls had
nothing to do with legal restrictions -- they simply slipped the CIA in Asia.

Mr. Bush said the NSA program is limited to communications between the United States and people overseas who are linked to al Qaeda. He said the NSA program has helped prevent terrorist attacks and save American lives, although the government has not given any specifics.

"Officials here learn information about plotters and planners and people who would do us harm," Mr. Bush said, reading from note cards. "Now, I understand there's some in America who say, 'Well, this can't be true there are still people willing to attack.' All I would ask them to do is listen to the words of Osama bin Laden and take him seriously."

However, no one in the political debate over the war on terror or the NSA program has suggested that terrorists no longer want to attack the United States. Rather, Bush's critics have argued that the law requires him to get permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to eavesdrop on communications involving Americans.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., issued a blistering attack on Mr. Bush's explanations.

"Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists," she said. "I think that's our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way. Their argument that it's rooted in the authority to go after al Qaeda is far-fetched. Their argument that it's rooted in the Constitution inherently is kind of strange because we have FISA and FISA operated very effectively and it wasn't that hard to get their permission."

Mr. Bush said he had the legal right to do whatever he could to prevent further attacks and that the NSA program "is fully consistent with our nation's laws and Constitution."

"I'll continue to reauthorize this program for so long as our country faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups," Mr. Bush said. "This enemy still wants to do harm to the American people. We cannot let the fact that we have not been attacked lull us into the illusion that the threats to our nation have disappeared."