National Security Agency U S

Two fellow politicians, and their presidential bids, hover over Sen. Russell D. Feingold these days: Howard Dean and John McCain. Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin, had Capitol Hill buzzing last week when he proposed that the Senate censure President Bush for ordering the National Security Agency to bypass the warrant process and spy on communications between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad.

The House Intelligence Committee voted Thursday to withhold funding from the nation's intelligence director over concerns that his office, which was created to streamline operations in the nation's spy community, is instead becoming bloated and bureaucratic.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday he might seek to block funding of a domestic eavesdropping program in an effort to force the Bush administration to answer lawmakers' questions about the operation. In a warning to the White House, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he planned to introduce legislation that would cut off funds for the surveillance program, which he described as a threat to civil liberties and a violation of domestic espionage laws.

Since the first revelations about the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance, the struggle over information about the program has been as contentious as the debate over the wiretapping itself. For months, Democrats in Congress have accused the White House of stonewalling questions about the program and have charged that Republicans have failed to press hard enough for answers. Some GOP senators joined in the complaints that Congress had been left too much in the dark.

After September the 11th, I vowed to the American people that our government would do everything within the law to protect them against another terrorist attack. As part of this effort, I authorized the National Security Agency to intercept the international communications of people with known links to Al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations.

President Bush and his nominee to lead the CIA faced a new furor Thursday over domestic spying operations after a news report that the National Security Agency has secretly assembled the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans. Moving to limit the political fallout, Bush held a hastily arranged news appearance at the White House in which he said the government was not "trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans."

While Capitol Hill debated the issue Friday, many lawyers voiced surprise that three major telephone companies had agreed to make available to the National Security Agency the phone records of tens of millions of Americans. That's because Congress made it illegal 20 years ago for telephone companies and computer service providers to turn over to the government records showing who their customers had dialed or e-mailed.

Top lawmakers from both parties said Sunday that the nomination of Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden as CIA director would hinge on his explanations of a controversial domestic spying program he oversaw as head of the National Security Agency. Hayden is scheduled to testify Thursday publicly and privately before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The lawmakers indicated that they would pull no punches.

The Federal Communications Commission should investigate whether phone companies are violating federal law by providing calling records to the National Security Agency as part of an anti-terrorism program, a commission member said Monday. "There is no doubt that protecting the security of the American people is our government's No. 1 responsibility," Commissioner Michael J. Copps, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Reversing a position it has held for months, the White House on Tuesday agreed to brief all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees on a controversial domestic wiretapping operation -- just as the architect of the program is facing a contentious confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. In making the concession, the Bush administration is seeking to improve the prospects of the president's nominee to be the next CIA director, Air Force Gen. Michael V.