At a closed-door briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25 percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few months earlier.Congress needed to act quickly, intelligence officials said, to repair a dangerous situation.Some lawmakers were alarmed. Others, jaded by past intelligence warnings, were skeptical.The report helped set off a furious legislative rush last week that, improbably, broadened the administration’s authority to wiretap terrorism suspects without court oversight.
http://nytimes.com/2007/08/11/washington/11nsa.htmlAlso see:
Editorial: The Need to Know
Like many in this country who were angered when Congress rushed to rubber-stamp a bill giving President Bush even more power to spy on Americans, we took some hope from the vow by Congressional Democrats to rewrite the new law after summer vacation. The chance of undoing the damage is slim, unless the White House stops stonewalling and gives lawmakers and the public the information they need to understand this vital issue.
http://nytimes.com/2007/08/11/opinion/11sat1.html
us: Reported Decline in Surveillance Spurred Quick Law
At a closed-door briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25 percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few months earlier. Congress needed to act quickly, intelligence officials said, to repair a dangerous situation. Some lawmakers were alarmed. Others, jaded by past intelligence warnings, were skeptical. The report helped set off a furious legislative rush last week that, improbably, broadened the administration’s authority to wiretap terrorism suspects without court oversight.