Senate hearings on the Bush administration's use of wiretaps without first obtaining a warrant promise to be contentious, if a few points in this Los Angeles Times story — which mostly reports comments from Sunday's TV interview programs — turn out to be true.
Salient points from the story to keep in mind include:
— "Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden, deputy director of national intelligence, said current laws limited the ability of intelligence agencies to detect potential terrorist plots. But he said the administration had not sought new legislation for expanded government spying out of fear that Congress would reveal the effort."
— The first witness before the Senate Judicary Committee will be Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose "prepared testimony suggests that he will repeat many of Hayden's arguments.
"'This surveillance is narrowly focused and fully consistent with the traditional forms of enemy surveillance found to be necessary in all previous armed conflicts,' the prepared statement says. 'It is an early warning system with only one purpose: to detect and prevent the next attack on the United States from foreign agents hiding in our midst.'
"The process of obtaining a legal warrant is lengthy and unnecessary, the statement says: 'Even a very short delay may make the difference between success and failure in preventing the next attack.'"
— Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., likely won't buy what Gonzales is selling, especially the administration argument that the wiretaps were implicitly authorized under a post-9/11 congressional resolution that essentially declared war on al-Qaida.
The Times reports:
"I believe that contention is very strained and unrealistic," Specter said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "The authorization for the use of force doesn't say anything about electronic surveillance."
Specter said he would ask Gonzales why the administration didn't at least disclose the program to the judges who issue warrants under the 1978 law. The secret court "has an outstanding record of not leaking" and its members are "well qualified to evaluate this program and either say it's OK or it's not OK."
He added, "I think that's the biggest question the administration has to answer."
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