Last night on PBS, Bush artfully dodged every question about revelations that his White House allowed the NSA to spy on American citizens, on American soil, without a warrant, possibly illegally. Today, however, in a rare live radio address, the president expanded a bit on his thoughts.
President Bush today acknowledged that he had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on international communications of Americans and other domestic residents with known links to al Qaeda.
The controversial order has been approved by legal authorities in his administration, Bush said, and he added that members of Congress had been notified of it more than a dozen times.
He defended his decision to sign the secret order, calling the program a “vital tool in our war against terrorists” and “critical to saving American lives.”
“This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security,” a stern-looking Bush said. “Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends, and allies. . . .And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad.”
“I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups,” Bush added.
In other words, when it comes to warrantless spying on Americans, Bush believes he should “stay the course.”
Bush seemed almost annoyed at having to discuss the issue at all, even chastising journalists for reporting the story.
He chastised the news accounts, saying, “The existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk.”
This misleading argument is a stretch, even for Bush. As Josh Marshall noted, this “secret program” Bush referred to was the White House’s desire to get warrants it could have received quickly and easily.
If I’m understanding this correctly, this program allowed the president to conduct warrantless wiretaps in cases where he could have conducted the same wiretaps with warrants by seeking a warrant from the FISA Court. If the wiretaps were against the “international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations” then the FISA Court certainly would have issued the warrants. So it’s the same difference.
Regardless, when it comes to the issue of warrantless spying on Americans, Bush was effectively laying it all on the line this morning. Not only did he acknowledge that this occurred, but he was admitting that he had personally signed off on these searches on multiple occasions.
Where did Bush find the authority? Bush said that he authorized the program “using constitutional authority vested in me as commander-in-chief.” Experts and lawmakers from both parties disagree, but the president seems to be in the I’m-the-president-and-I-say-so zone where his conduct is legal by virtue of the fact that it’s his conduct.
It sets up a compelling showdown. A lot of officials at every level believe Bush has gone too far this time, while Bush believes he will continue to go as far as he pleases.
Stay tuned.