Source:
USA TodayWASHINGTON — FBI agents and other federal investigators would have greater leeway to eavesdrop on foreigners in the USA suspected of having information on terrorism or national security threats, under a Bush administration proposal.
The bill has the backing of the Justice Department and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. It would allow the telephone calls, e-mails and other activities of persons who are not U.S. citizens or legal residents to be secretly monitored if they are thought to "possess significant foreign intelligence information." Individuals and groups who deal in "weapons of mass destruction" would also become surveillance targets, under the proposed law.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requires that a surveillance target be an agent of a foreign power or connected to a terrorist group before a secret FISA court authorizes monitoring. The proposed law, a copy of which was furnished to USA TODAY by McConnell's office, would amend that requirement.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to conduct hearings on the bill today.
Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-16-FISA_N.htm