Defense of NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program

DEFENSE OF NSA TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today America is at war. We were awakened to this war on September 11, 2001, even though our enemies had been waging it against us for a number of years. The enemy, of course, is al-Qaida, a treacherous terrorist group whose goal is simply to kill as many Americans as possible and to strike such fear into civilized nations that freedom itself is forced into retreat.

To combat this deadly threat, the President has rightly--rightly--asserted his constitutional authority to use every tool at his disposal to fight the war on terror. One of those tools is the NSA's terrorist surveillance program.

Yet despite the grave terrorist threat, I fear too many have forgotten that we are, indeed, a nation at war, and so have forgotten the vital need for the terrorist surveillance program. Perhaps it is because we have not seen another attack on American soil since September 11, despite, I might add, the terrorists' best efforts.

But there can be no doubt that al-Qaida terrorists are still plotting brutal attacks against this country and other freedom-loving countries. For proof of this, look no further than a recent audiotape made by Osama bin Laden himself. In a tape aired on Al-Jazeera television last month, bin Laden said this:

The mujahadeen, with God's grace, have managed repeatedly to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust allied countries. The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in this aggressive coalition.

He went on:

Similar operations happening in America. ..... are under preparation, and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through.

A not-so-veiled threat for another attack here at home. It couldn't be any clearer than that: ``Similar operations,'' so Osama bin Laden said, ``are under preparation, and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through.''

At this very moment, al-Qaida operatives in America, right here at home--madmen such as Mohamed Atta--may be plotting attacks. What kinds of attacks could they be hatching? Here is one example.

In 2003, authorities apprehended a man named Iyman Faris for assisting al-Qaida in plotting and planning a terrorist attack. Faris is an American citizen. He lived in Ohio before being taken into Federal custody.

In 2002, Faris traveled to Pakistan where he met with known members of al-Qaida. The terrorists told him they were planning attacks in New York and here in Washington, and asked if he would help.

So Faris elected to return to America, visit New York City, and reconnoiter the Brooklyn Bridge with the intent of finding the best means to destroy it. He even went so far as to research how to sever the cables supporting the bridge. Approximately 135,000 vehicles cross the Brooklyn Bridge every day.

According to the Washington Post, Government officials have privately credited Faris's arrest to the President's terrorist surveillance program. Faris has since pleaded guilty to having plotted to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, a direct result of the terrorism surveillance program.

This time the terrorists did not succeed, but as we all know, while our goal is to stop them every time, their goal is to succeed just once.

Let me repeat that. We have to stop them every time. They only have to succeed once.

To uncover and disrupt attacks such as this, the President must aggressively use every tool at his disposal to exercise his authority under the Constitution to protect America. To do any less would be a dereliction of duty.

A major part of the war on terror is the terrorist surveillance program. This very narrowly tailored program intercepts international communications--not domestic, even though that word has been used a lot in error--international communications by members of al-Qaida or other suspected terrorist groups outside America into this country, or by those terrorists' allies in this country out to terrorists in foreign lands. So the universe is international communications. Public mischaracterizations have portrayed this terrorist surveillance program as something ominous, as if the Government is listening in to domestic phone calls made by average, law-abiding Americans. That is flat out wrong, and those mischaracterizations ought to cease.

If someone is calling from Tora Bora, they are not calling to order a pizza. Let me repeat: If someone is calling from Tora Bora, they are not calling to order a pizza.

The NSA is only interested in al-Qaida sleeper agents in the United States, men such as Iyman Faris, the Brooklyn Bridge bomber, who call or receive calls from known agents of al-Qaida or affiliated terrorist groups abroad with instructions for their next deadly mission.

The NSA terrorist surveillance program is not only entirely necessary, it is entirely lawful. The President enjoys broad authority under the Constitution to protect all Americans. And the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, the court charged with reviewing the legality of measures such as the terrorism surveillance program, has confirmed that the President has broad powers with respect to foreign intelligence gathering.

The court wrote in 2002 that, with respect to conducting searches without warrants in order to obtain foreign intelligence information:

We take for granted that the President does have that authority, and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach upon the President's constitutional power.

That could not be more clear. That is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review saying:

We take for granted that the President does have that authority, and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach upon the President's constitutional power.

If that is not enough legal authority, here is more. Congress delegated broad war powers to the President when it authorized the war on terror in 2001. The Senate passed that authorization 98 to 0 with the support of many of the same Democrats who vehemently speak against the program today.

That authorization empowered the President to ``use all necessary and appropriate force'' to fight terror. It did not say ``some force.'' It did not say ``all force except when it comes to international communications intercepts.'' It did not even say ``all force now, less later, depending on the political landscape.'' It said ``all force,'' and ``all force'' means ``all force.''

However, opponents of the terrorism surveillance program apparently do not want to allow the President to use all the force at his disposal to fight terror. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, recently expressed his strong disapproval, and this is how he put it:

President Bush's secret program to spy on the American people reminds Americans of the abuse of power during the days of President Nixon and Vice President Agnew.

That is Howard Dean's appraisal of the terrorism surveillance program. That is from the leader of the Democratic Party. Obviously, he completely misses the point.

The terrorist surveillance program intercepts calls between known al-Qaida terrorists and their affiliates overseas and the al-Qaida terrorist accomplices here in America. As the President has said, if you are calling al-Qaida, we want to know why.

The only conclusion one can draw from statements such as Governor Dean's--statements that explicitly compare programs that stop terrorists who want to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge to illegal activity from a generation ago--is that he opposes the program and wants it stopped.

We cannot fight the war on terror with one hand tied behind our backs. That is exactly the wrong direction we need to take in the war on terror. After more than 4 years since the devastating attack of September 11, this is still a hard-fought battle. Al-Qaida's leader, Osama bin Laden himself, has bragged--has bragged--about impending attacks.

If anyone doubts the death-crazed tenacity of our enemies, let them hear these words, also from the bin Laden audiotape I quoted from earlier. Here is what he had to say further:

We will seek revenge all our lives. The nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance, like on September 11, God permitting. Your minds will be troubled and your lives embittered.

Clearly our enemy is cunning and our enemy is cruel. We must be aggressive about using every tool at our disposal to fight the war on terror.

I applaud the President for doing just that, and for remaining unbowed in the face of loud criticism from a few as he continues to carry out his duty to protect America.

I yield the floor.

http://thomas.loc.gov/