Hearings on the President's Authorization of the NSA Wiretapping

Several members of the Senate have called for a joint Judiciary-Intelligence Committee hearings into the recently revealed NSA program of spying on Americans. The Senators requesting the hearings are Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Carl Levin (D-MI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR). The five senators are all members of the Select Committee on Intelligence (Sen. Feinstein is also on the Judiciary Committee). The statement, released on Sen. Feinstein's website reads:

Dear Senators,

We write to express our profound concern about recent revelations that the United States Government may have engaged in domestic electronic surveillance without appropriate legal authority. These allegations, which the President, at least in part, confirmed this weekend require immediate inquiry and action by the Senate.

We respectfully request that the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on the Judiciary, which share jurisdiction and oversight of this issue, jointly undertake an inquiry into the facts and law surrounding these allegations. The overlapping jurisdiction of these two Committees is particularly critical where civil liberties and the rule of law hang in the balance.

On Saturday the President stated that he “authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations.” It is critical that Congress determine, as quickly as possible, exactly what collection activities were authorized, what were actually undertaken, how many names and numbers were involved over what period, and what was the asserted legal authority for such activities. In sum, we must determine the facts.

Both the Judiciary and the Intelligence Committee have had numerous hearings and briefings on the authorities provided to the nation’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies in their effort to defend against terrorism. We have extensively debated these issues. At no time, to our knowledge, did any Administration representative ask the Congress to consider amending existing law to permit electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists without a warrant such as outlined in the New York Times article.

We strongly believe that the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees should immediately seek to answer the factual and legal questions which surround these revelations, and recommend appropriate action to the Senate.

Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein Carl Levin
Chuck Hagel
Ron Wyden Olympia Snowe

Below are the members of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. If they are your Senators write them a letter asking either for their support of the hearings or to thank them for supporting hearings.

Select Committee on Intelligence
Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chair
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
John Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), Ranking Democratic Member
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Jon Corzine (D-NJ)

Committee on the Judiciary
Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chairman
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Charles Grassley (R-IA)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ranking Democratic Member
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
Joe Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)