Editorial: The president as a lone wolf

Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005 | 8:06 a.m.

The need for congressional hearings on the Bush administration's decision to bypass the courts in eavesdropping on Americans' conversations and written messages is becoming clearer by the day.

In the two weeks since the story was first broken by The New York Times, it has gotten bigger. Saturday, for example, The New York Times published another lengthy story on the issue, over a headline reading, "Actions without warrants are called wider than yet acknowledged." The Los Angeles Times reported that same development on Sunday, in a story headlined, "U.S. spying is much wider, some suspect."

Both stories quoted intelligence experts in and out of government as saying the National Security Agency has conducted its eavesdropping in cooperation with telecommunications companies. In yet another story Sunday, in an article headlined, "The agency that could be Big Brother," The New York Times reported that communication dishes at just one of the NSA's listening posts, located in West Virginia, "secretly and silently sweep in millions of private telephone calls and e-mail messages an hour."

President Bush, after 9/11, circumvented federal law in authorizing the NSA to conduct domestic spying without obtaining warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Many members of Congress have harshly criticized Bush for this decision, citing the potential for abuse of constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties.

The ongoing spying is permissible under his presidential powers, Bush says. But bipartisan support is growing in Congress for hearings that would seek full disclosure of the government's operation and its relationship with private phone companies.

By the force of his personality, and the fact that both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans, Bush has avoided close congressional scrutiny of many questionable actions, such as his leading the country into war with Iraq on false premises. But Congress should thoroughly investigate the warrantless electronic eavesdropping that Americans are being subjected to on the whim of the White House.

Congress should also examine the Pentagon's surveillance program, which has been secretly keeping extensive records on war protesters and other Americans arbitrarily deemed as threats to national security. We understand that the world has changed since 9/11, and we understand that members of terrorist organizations are technically savvy and hard to track. But the White House cannot be permitted to alone wage a secret war, freezing out Congress, the courts and the Constitution.