White House to Release Details on Eavesdropping

WHITE HOUSE TO RELEASE DETAILS ON EAVESDROPPING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Mazzetti]
Bowing to bipartisan pressure from lawmakers, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it was turning over to select members of Congress secret documents detailing the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program. The Bush Administration recently announced it had agreed to put the NSA program under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and that the secret court had on Jan. 10 approved a Justice Department request for a wiretap. The decision to hand over the documents will allow members of the House and Senate intelligence committees -- as well as select congressional leaders -- to review that court order. The package of documents the Bush Administration is giving to lawmakers is also expected to include Justice Department applications for surveillance approvals and the legal briefs submitted to the FISA court. Lawmakers from both parties applauded the decision, and pledged that the new Congress will closely scrutinize the legality of the NSA program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/washington/31cnd-intel.html
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* U.S. allows lawmakers to see court spying documents
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2007-02-01T002115Z_01_N31353590_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-GONZALES-SPYING.xml&WT...

* Records on Spy Program Turned Over to Lawmakers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013100921.html

* U.S. to give Congress records on spying program
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-nsa1feb01,1,1855985.story?coll=la-news-a_section

COURT URGED TO RULE ON EAVESDROPPING PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andrea Hopkins]
A U.S. civil rights group urged a federal appeals court on Wednesday to uphold a ruling against the Bush Administration's domestic spying program, although the White House has agreed a special court can monitor the eavesdropping. The American Civil Liberties Union said its challenge to President George W. Bush's domestic wiretapping program should not be dropped simply because the government had volunteered, for now, not to renew the eavesdropping activities. "It's this court's duty to serve as check on the arbitrary exercise of government power to wiretap American citizens on American soil," ACLU lead attorney Ann Beeson told a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She noted the Bush Administration was still claiming the "inherent authority" to engage in eavesdropping without a warrant, and that nothing would stop it from withdrawing from the monitoring system in the future. "A failure to decide the case could leave it up to the president to decide when and whether to obey the law," Beeson said.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2007-02-01T002951Z_01_N31314744_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-SECURITY-EAVESDROPPING...

* Judges Weigh Arguments in U.S. Eavesdropping Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/washington/01nsa.html

* Appeals court hears wiretapping case
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-spying1feb01,1,3603692.story?coll=la-news-a_section