Specter blasts D.C. inaction

WASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Thursday that attempts to legislate review of the government's domestic surveillance program were virtually dead for this year and expressed doubts that a solution would soon be found under a Democratic-controlled Congress.

"We could legislate on the subject next week, but we're not going to for a great many reasons," Specter said, referring to the remaining weeklong session on the congressional calendar. "Why Congress can't come to grips decisively eludes me.

"I think it would be ideal to have congressional oversight on the program in detail, and I look forward to what will happen next year," he told an American Bar Association gathering. "I have grave reservations as to how successful we will be, given the administration's unwillingness to share those secrets."

The outgoing chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee used the speech to highlight his panel's achievements during his two years as leader, but he also groused about "endless unproductive activity of Congress" and the failures of congressional oversight to review controversial Bush administration programs.

Specter said FBI Director Robert Mueller would testify before his panel Wednesday on whether law enforcement and intelligence agencies are sharing information.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks "could have been prevented if the CIA and the FBI had communicated," Specter asserted.

He reserved his harshest criticism for inaction on the warrantless surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency. "No one wants to allow al-Qaida to make plans for another attack ... but it's a matter for justification," Specter said. "The president does not have a blank check."

The terrorism-surveillance program, as the NSA effort is known, was secretly approved by President Bush in the weeks after the 2001 attacks.

For five years, the NSA — which is barred from spying within the United States — has monitored tens of thousands of international phone calls and e-mail messages to and from people in the United States.

Specter and many Democrats — including Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who will succeed him as chairman — believe the program violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. That law requires that court orders be obtained to eavesdrop on people inside the United States.

Bush acknowledged the existence of the secret program a year ago, after reports about it were published. The White House wants legal authority to continue it, saying it is an invaluable tool in tracking communications with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

After initially calling the program an abuse of presidential authority that "can't be condoned," Specter has been trying to forge a compromise between the administration and Congress that would allow it.

A Leahy spokesman said "more answers" were needed before legislation could be adopted.