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Gonzales prepares to defend secret surveillance MICHAEL HEDGES / Houston Chronicle | February 5 2006 WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will face his most severe test as a defender of his friend President Bush when he testifies Monday at a hearing on the administration's secret surveillance program. Gonzales will make the Republican case that Bush had the constitutional authority to order warrantless surveillance of calls to or from the United States in which at least one party was a suspected al-Qaida operative — and that he had the duty to do so. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the same panel that just finished a contentious debate over Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, will likely respond that Bush sidestepped federal law and violated constitutional protections against unwarranted searches. The high-profile, solo role will mark a departure for the normally reserved, cautious Gonzales. "He is going to have to step out of character a bit, show a more forceful nature," said a participant in last week's prep session who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He has to show people he really believes this. I told him, 'You better go up there spitting nails.' " The White House and Republican officials have worked hard to prepare Gonzales for a day of grilling on detailed laws and constitutional nuances. Last week, a group of about 20 high-ranking former Justice Department officials and GOP strategists met with Gonzales to help refine the points he plans to make and how he should make them. Gonzales also will be extensively prepped by Justice Department lawyers. "The attorney general will be going up there loaded for bear," said the prep session participant. "The advice was to remind people in visceral terms of 9/11, of our enemy whose goal is to see Americans jumping out of windows to keep from burning to death." Democrats plan to give no quarter to Gonzales. Along with at least one Republican — identified by committee officials as Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — they have been pushing hard for documents showing how the rationale for the program developed. A Democratic staff member of the Judiciary Committee said some of the focus will be on the assertion that the administration ignored the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which established a secret court that reviews requests for wiretapping warrants. Republicans on the panel plan a full-bore defense of the program as necessary to save American lives. "The process is necessary and legal," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. "It is a reasonable assertion of executive authority." Bush defenders said the authority comes from Article II of the Constitution, which gives presidents broad powers to defend the country. They also note that the program was only used against suspected al-Qaida operatives, with at least one end of the conversation outside the United States. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., noted that two of the 9/11 hijackers "made dozens of phone calls to al-Qaida operatives outside the United States." To prohibit a president from ordering those calls intercepted without first taking time to obtain a warrant, as required by FISA, would be dangerous, he said. "The American people understand that makes no sense." There is some indication that the public is siding with Bush on the issue. A poll in the New York Times, which in December was the first to report on the eavesdropping program, showed that 68 percent of Americans would be willing to allow the government to monitor the telephone calls and e-mail of "Americans that the government is suspicious of." At the same time, 64 percent were concerned about losing civil liberties. |
