By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
A majority of Americans want the Bush administration to get court
approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United States, even
if those calls might involve suspected terrorists, an AP-Ipsos poll
shows.
Over the past three weeks, President Bush and top aides have defended
the electronic monitoring program they secretly launched shortly after
Sept. 11, 2001, as a vital tool to protect the nation from al-Qaida
and its affiliates.
Yet 56 percent of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll said the government
should be required to first get a court warrant to eavesdrop on the
overseas calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens when those communications
are believed to be tied to terrorism.
Agreeing with the White House, some 42 percent of those surveyed do
not believe the court approval is necessary.
"We're at war," Bush said during a New Year's Day visit to San
Antonio. "And as commander in chief, I've got to use the resources at
my disposal, within the law, to protect the American people. ... It's
a vital, necessary program."
According to the poll, age matters in how people view the
monitoring. Nearly two-thirds of those between age 18 to 29 believe
warrants should be required, while people 65 and older are evenly
divided.
Party affiliation is a factor, too. Almost three-fourths of Democrats
and one-third of Republicans want to require court warrants.
Cynthia Ice-Bones, 32, a Republican from Sacramento, Calif., said
knowing about the program made her feel a bit safer. "I think our
security is so important that we don't need warrants. If you're doing
something we shouldn't be doing, then you ought to be caught," she
said.
But Peter Ahr of Caldwell, N.J., a religious studies professor at
Seton Hall University, said he could not find a justification for
skipping judicial approvals. Nor did he believe the administration's
argument that such a step would impair terrorism investigations.
"We're a nation of laws. ... That means that everybody has to live by
the law, including the administration," said Ahr, 64, a Democrat who
argues for checks and balances. "For the administration to simply go
after wiretaps on their own without anyone else's say-so is a
violation of that principle."
The eavesdropping is run by the secretive National Security Agency,
the government's code-makers and code-breakers.
Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, said most people think that the eavesdropping is
aimed at foreign terrorists, even when the surveillance is conducted
inside the country.
"They are willing to give the president quite a lot of leeway on this
when it comes to the war on terror," said Franklin, who closely
follows public opinion.
Some members of Congress have raised concerns about the president's
actions, but none of those lawmakers who have been briefed on the
program has called for its immediate halt.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, GOP Sen. Arlen Specter
of Pennsylvania, has promised hearings this year. Five members of the
Senate Intelligence Committee, including GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe of
Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, have called for immediate
inquiries.
On top of that, a memorandum circulated Friday from two legal analysts
at the Congressional Research Service concluded that the justification
for the monitoring may not be as strong as the administration has
argued.
The NSA's activity "may present an exercise of presidential power at
its lowest ebb," the 44-page memo said.
Bush based his eavesdropping orders on his presidential powers under
the Constitution and a September 2001 congressional resolution
authorizing him to use military force in the fight against terrorism.
The administration says the program is reviewed every 45 days and that
Bush personally reauthorizes it. His top legal advisers argue its
justification is sound.
The issue is full of grays for some people interviewed for the poll,
including homebuilder Harlon Bennett, 21, a political independent from
Wellston, Okla. He does not think the government should need warrants for
suspected terrorists.
"Of course," he added, "we all could be suspected terrorists."
Associated Press writers Will Lester and Elizabeth White contributed to this
report.
On the Net:
Ipsos: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
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Katherine Shrader (