Editorial: Domestic spying revelation

Friday, May 12, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

Not long after The New York Times disclosed in December the existence of the Bush administration's domestic spying program, many in and out of government called for investigations - and with justification. Now two new revelations have intensified pressure on Bush officials to explain more about their spying on Americans.

This week USA Today reported that the National Security Agency has collected the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans in cooperation with AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. Most of the Americans whose records have been culled are not suspected of committing a crime, but NSA officials plan to use the massive database to help them analyze calling patterns and better detect terrorist activity.

Also this week the Justice Department announced it was closing an investigation it had barely opened into NSA's program that - without first obtaining a court order - conducted surveillance of overseas e-mails and phone conversations. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility had sought to probe whether department lawyers acted unethically in their roles as part of the controversial program.

The first step in the office's inquiry was to gain security clearances for its investigators from NSA, but on Tuesday the spy agency denied the clearances and the Justice Department promptly shut down the investigation, the Associated Press reported. So much for accountability in government.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse brushed aside the need for any investigation when he told AP that the program "has been subject to extensive oversight both in the executive branch and in Congress from the time of its inception." But that is highly questionable.

The public has no way to know what kind of oversight the Bush administration applies to its own programs. And the White House has gone to great lengths to stonewall lawmakers - Democrats and Republicans alike - who can't get even the most basic information about the surveillance program.

White House officials say they briefed key congressional leaders, but some of those leaders dispute that.

Bush aides won't even say which leaders they met with or when. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has threatened to cut off funding for it, adding that Bush is "walking all over Congress." Specter also wants the phone companies to testify in Congress to explain their role in the database program.

The White House has some explaining to do, too. Specter has said lawmakers should be outraged, and he is right. They have a constitutional duty to be a check and balance on the executive branch. They should keep the pressure on the Bush administration to answer for NSA programs that not only are an attack on privacy and civil liberties, but also appear to be another attempt by Bush to seize power from the courts and Congress.