Lawmakers face political fallout after passing spy bill

Lawmakers are facing political fallout this week after voting to give the Bush administration new spying powers while making changes in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Perhaps trying to mitigate criticism from privacy and civil liberties groups, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Tuesday released a letter from National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell outlining what protections will be used when the administration spies on U.S. citizens. That legislation allows McConnell and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to authorize the surveillance of communications by U.S. citizens without first getting a warrant from the secret FISA court.

The authorization could last for up to one year. In McConnell's letter, which Feinstein said she requested, the director said the intelligence community is still obligated to minimize the acquisition, retention, and dissemination of information concerning U.S. citizens.

"These procedures have worked well for decades and eliminate from intelligence reports incidentally acquired information concerning U.S. persons that does not constitute foreign intelligence," wrote McConnell, a retired vice admiral who ran the National Security Agency from 1992-1996. He said the government also has "extensive training, compliance, and other procedures in place at agencies to ensure our activities are conducted according to law," including audits from inspectors general.

The new law also requires the government to submit its procedures for spying to the secret FISA court for judicial review, McConnell added.

"I am committed to keeping the Congress fully and currently informed of how this act has improved the ability of the intelligence community to protect the country and reporting -- and remedying -- any incidents of non-compliance," he wrote.

And, although McConnell did not say it, the new law expires in six months. Feinstein said she is working to draft "permanent legislation to ensure the effectiveness of our foreign intelligence surveillance program and to ensure that it protects the rights and liberties of all Americans."

Meanwhile, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Monday asked the Justice Department to investigate whether House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, violated the law by leaking classified information about intelligence operations related to FISA.

The group cited a July 31 interview Boehner gave to Fox News, in which he said a court ruling "prohibits the ability of our intelligence services and our counterintelligence people from listening in to two terrorists in other parts of the world where the communication could come through the United States."

CREW alleges that Boehner appears to have transmitted information relating to national defense. A Boehner spokesman disputed that Boehner leaked anything and said his comments were consistent with what the administration, intelligence officials, and news reports have been conveying since January.

"Mr. Boehner was referring to a FISA court judge's orders in January -- outlined in a publicly available letter from the attorney general to the Congress -- which brought all surveillance operations under the already-outdated and over-burdened FISA system and caused the intelligence gap Republicans fought to close last week," he said.