Bush defends spying after NSA database report

USA Today said its sources for the story were “people with direct knowledge of the arrangement,” but it did not give their names or describe their affiliation.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., argued that the program “is not a warrantless wiretapping of the American people. I don’t think this action is nearly as troublesome as being made out here, because they are not tapping our phones.”

But another Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told Fox News Channel: “The idea of collecting millions or thousands of phone numbers — how does that fit into following the enemy?”

Hayden would have overseen the call-tracking program during his tenure at NSA, USA Today reported. A White House spokeswoman said Hayden’s nomination to be CIA director was going “full steam ahead.”

Feinstein, Kerry reactions
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has spoken favorably of Hayden’s nomination, said the latest revelation “is also going to present a growing impediment to the confirmation of Gen. Hayden.”

Added Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.: “It is long overdue for this Congress to end the days of roll over and rubber stamp and finally assert its power of advise and consent before Gen. Hayden becomes (CIA) Director Hayden.”

A key House Republican also voiced reservations. Hayden will “have a lot more explaining to do,” Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters.

Boehner said he knew nothing of the program before the revelations, adding that he is “concerned” and determined “to find out” what is going on, NBC News reported Thursday.

“I’m not sure why it would be necessary to have that information,” he said of the phone records.

'Largest database ever'
The existence of an NSA eavesdropping program launched after the Sept. 11 attacks was revealed in December.

Defending the controversial program, Bush and his administration officials have said it aims to uncover links between international terrorists and their domestic collaborators and only targets communications between a person inside the United States and a person overseas.

But USA Today reported that calls originating and terminating within the United States have not escaped the NSA’s attention.

“It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” the paper quoted one source as saying. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within U.S. borders, it said the source added.

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