The White House was halfway to its goal of winning expanded powers to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists.
Senate Democrats reluctantly agreed to passing a bill on Friday night to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The House of Representatives was expected to consider it yesterday after rejecting a Democratic alternative the night before.
The high-stakes showdown over national security hinged largely on how early a special court will review the government's surveillance of foreigners' overseas phone calls and Internet messages without warrants.
US President George W. Bush has demanded that Congress give him the expanded authority before leaving for vacation this weekend.
The White House applauded the Senate vote and urged the House to quickly follow suit.
The bill "will give our intelligence professionals the essential tools they need to protect our nation," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "It is urgent that this legislation become law as quickly as possible."
The Senate-approved plan, largely crafted by the White House, was barely pushed through after Bush promised to veto a stricter proposal that would have required a court review within 10 days. It gives Bush the expanded eavesdropping authority for six months.
Senate Republicans, aided by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, said the update to FISA would at least temporarily close gaps in the country's security.
"Al-Qaeda is not going on vacation this month," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. "And we can't either until we know we've done our duty to the American people."
In the House, Democrats lost an effort to push a proposal that called for stricter court oversight of the way the government would ensure its spying would not target Americans.
"We can have security and our civil liberties," Democratic Representative John Tierney said.
Current law requires court review of government surveillance of suspected terrorists in the US. It does not specifically address the government's ability to intercept messages believed to come from foreigners overseas.
The Bush administration began pressing for changes after a recent ruling by the special FISA court that barred the government from eavesdropping on foreign suspects whose messages were being routed through US communications carriers, including Internet sites.
Democrats agreed the law should not restrict US spies from tapping in on foreign suspects. However, they initially demanded that the FISA court review the eavesdropping process before it begins to make sure that Americans are not targeted.
Representative Russ Feingold angrily chastised his colleagues for bending to the administration's will.
"The day we start deferring to someone who's not a member of this body ... is a sad day for the US Senate," he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS