WASHINGTON – President Bush yesterday urged Congress to permanently expand the government’s domestic intelligence laws to better go after terrorists.
“Every day, our intelligence, law-enforcement and homeland-security professionals confront enemies who are smart, who are ruthless, and who are determined to murder innocent people to achieve their objectives,” he said.
“It is the job of Congress to give the professionals the tools they need to do their work as effectively as possible.”
Last year, Congress made updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but those are set to expire in February.
“That’s 135 days from today,” Bush said. “The threat from al Qaeda is not going to expire in 135 days.”
If the law reverts, intelligence officials will either be limited in capturing communications among suspected terrorist plotters or the Bush administration will continue the operations under severe criticism from Democrats and civil libertarians.