Congress considers changes to wiretap law

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday proposed changes in the foreign intelligence wiretap law that would make it easier for U.S. spy agencies to eavesdrop on phone and e-mail conversations between foreigners outside the United States.

But Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., rejected a proposal from Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to give the attorney general — currently the controversial Alberto Gonzales — the power to authorize foreign intelligence collection without going through a secret foreign intelligence court.

The developments pitted Republican efforts to strengthen executive power in the name of fighting the war on terrorism against Democratic efforts to balance that goal with protecting the civil liberties of American citizens and residents.

Rockefeller's proposed changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) were being negotiated with the White House late Wednesday. Rockefeller and Senate leaders of both parties said they hoped an agreement could be worked out so that the measure could be voted on this week, before Congress takes an August recess.

The Democrats' proposed changes were a response to assertions by congressional Republicans that U.S. intelligence agencies are missing important information because FISA is too restrictive. McConnell said in a letter last Friday that change was urgently needed "to close critical gaps in the intelligence community's ability to provide warning of threats to the country."

Rockefeller said the Bush administration's proposal went too far.

"The administration has offered a proposal that would instead permanently grant the attorney general excessive surveillance powers by giving him sole authority to direct surveillance while completely removing the FISA court from the process. That is simply unacceptable," he said in a statement.

"The FISA court must continue to play an essential role in authorizing surveillance and overseeing its execution."

Rockefeller said his proposal would underscore that FISA doesn't apply to foreign-to-foreign intelligence collection. The secret FISA court, however, has an oversight role when foreign surveillance involves a person in the United States, and warrants are then required.

The Democrats' proposals that Rockefeller outlined would require the FISA court to examine the procedures that intelligence agencies use to determine whether a surveillance target was a foreigner. The court would have to endorse those procedures before the agencies could listen in without warrants.