FISA Judges: Bush's Wiretaps Were Lawful

In a stunning development yesterday, a panel of former Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Bush "did not act illegally when he created by executive order a wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA)."

In an article today in the Washington Times, reporter Brian DeBose illustrated a reality that most people are unaware of - FISA judges actually agree with President Bush and his authorization for NSA to monitor International/American communications involving suspected terrorists.

"If a court refuses a FISA application and there is not sufficient time for the president to go to the court of review, the president can under executive order act unilaterally, which he is doing now," said Judge Allan Kornblum, magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and an author of the 1978 FISA Act. "I think that the president would be remiss exercising his constitutional authority by giving all of that power over to a statute."

Hmmmm....given the shrill anti-Bush rhetoric flooding our newspapers and airwaves, this comes as a bit of a surprise.

"If a court refuses a FISA application and there is not sufficient time for the president to go to the court of review, the president can under executive order act unilaterally, which he is doing now," said Judge Allan Kornblum, magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida."

Of course, Presidents have been using similar policies toward eavesdropping on conversations, but like the rest of this article, you will here NADA of this story in the NYT and WP newspapers.