Oversight board briefed on NSA program

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After a delay of more than a year, a government board appointed to guard Americans' privacy and civil liberties during the war on terror has been told the inner workings of the government's electronic eavesdropping program.

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Board members told The Associated Press they were impressed by the safeguards the government has built into the NSA's monitoring of phone calls and computer transmissions and wished the administration could tell the public more about them to ease distrust.

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While board members were impressed, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee urged colleagues on Monday not to approve legislation formally legalizing the NSA program until Congress gets more answers.

"The fact is, despite repeated assurances from the administration, members of Congress remain in the dark and cannot answer fundamental questions about the program's scope, effectiveness or legal justification," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. "As one of the few members who have received the most detailed information to date, I can say that the administration has not been able to document convincingly the benefits of the program."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_go_ot/terror_privacy_2