eavesdrop news stories on Newser

Congress Spooked Into Passing Broad Spying Law

Caroline Zimmerman — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:01:57 CDT

It was a closed-door briefing last month, in which lawmakers were told of a stunning drop in intelligence, that suddenly broke the Democratic opposition to a new spying bill passed last week, the New York Times reports. The Times does a post mortem on the 11th hour passage of the...

Bush Signs Law Expanding Wiretap Powers

Peter Fearon — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 05:26:28 CDT

President Bush signed into law yesterday measures significantly expanding the government's authority to eavesdrop on millions of phone calls and e-mails going in and out of the US without warrants. The law, passed by Congress after bruising battles, effectively legalizes secret surveillance being conducted by a controversial National Security Agency...

Bush to Congress: Not So Fast

Caroline Zimmerman — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:40:58 CDT

Congress shouldn't go on vacation until it approves reforms to the current laws on government eavesdropping, President Bush said today. Lawmakers are working on a bill that would update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so that the US could spy on terror suspects overseas more effectively without impinging on...

FBI Chief's Testimony Contradicts Gonzales

Peter Fearon — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 05:14:55 CDT

Pressure mounted on Alberto Gonzales yesterday as FBI director Robert Mueller directly contradicted the attorney general in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Mueller and Gonzales gave dramatically different accounts about whether the Justice department's secret eavesdropping program was the subject of the now-legendary nighttime confrontation at the hospital bedside...