Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

The domestic spying program: Who is involved? Is it legal?

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration faces daily questions about a secretive program at the National Security Agency aimed at monitoring terror suspects. Is it legal? Who's targeted?

Some questions and answers about the domestic surveillance program launched shortly after Sept. 11, 2001:

Can the NSA eavesdrop on Americans?

Generally, it is prohibited without a court order. But under a directive signed by President Bush, and renewed more than 30 times, the National Security Agency can monitor the international communications of people inside the country, when one party to the call or e-mail is believed to be involved with al-Qaida.

How many people are affected?

Only a small number of government officials know, and they are not saying. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other senior officials say the program is targeted to go after only the most dangerous types of communications - those that may involve al-Qaida inside the United States.

What did Bush's directive change?

In national security investigations, the program eliminated the need to go before a judge for approval of surveillance on U.S. residents.

Previously, government lawyers had to show the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that there was probable cause a targeted person was an agent of a foreign power. A federal judge had to approve a warrant, and typically did. Bush's order allowed the NSA - not a judge - to approve the monitoring when officials had a "reasonable basis to believe" one party to the call or e-mail was linked to al-Qaida.

Who decides who is monitored?

Last month, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the government's No. 2 intelligence official, said an NSA shift supervisor makes the call. The former NSA director clarified his answer this week, saying only a small group of senior military officers or civilian counterterror experts at NSA get to decide.

How does the surveillance work?

Officials won't say. But Hayden said the NSA is not vacuuming up vast amounts of communications and running searches on it. In 2003, U.S. citizens spent 200-billion minutes on international calls. Ethically and practically, he said, the NSA can't be a "drift net."

Has the program foiled terrorist attacks?

Administration officials say they have received valuable information that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. For security reasons, they do not provide specifics.

Why the uproar?

The administration's critics say they program raises constitutional questions about whether the monitoring is an unreasonable search, prohibited under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

Was Congress told?

Yes. The administration briefed a limited group of members of Congress more than a dozen times. Called the "Gang of Eight," they include the top Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate and on the intelligence committees.

Did any of the members of Congress who were briefed on the program call for its halt?

No. Democrats, including California Rep. Jane Harman, the intelligence committee's top Democrat, have said they had questions about the way the briefings were handled. But none have said the program should end. Harman, in fact, says she believes the program "is essential to U.S. national security."

[Last modified January 28, 2006, 01:39:07]