BIG BROTHER WATCH:Bush Asks Congress To Expand Surveillance

WASHINGTON-In the midst of a festering public scandal surrounding the administration's secret wiretapping program and the attorney general's efforts to have it extended,President George W. Bush is calling on Congress to expand the law governing the issuance of warrants to intelligence agencies for surveillance.The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,or FISA, provides a legal foundation that allows information about terrorists' communications to be collected without violating civil liberties.President George W. Bush wants Congress to rewrite the law to incorporate new advances in technology which,he says,are not covered by the FISA."This law is badly out-of-date,"Mr.Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.Mr.Bush noted that terrorists now use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate,recruit operatives and plan attacks;such tools were not available when FISA was passed nearly 30 years ago.He also cited a recently released intelligence estimate that concluded al Qaeda is using its growing strength in the Middle East to plot attacks on U.S. soil. "Our intelligence community warns that under the current statute, we are missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be collecting to protect our country," Bush said. "Congress needs to act immediately to pass this bill, so that our national security professionals can close intelligence gaps and provide critical warning time for our country."
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