[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S783-S784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DEFENSE OF NSA TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today America is at war. We were 
awakened to this war on September 11, 2001, even though our enemies had 
been waging it against us for a number of years. The enemy, of course, 
is al-Qaida, a treacherous terrorist group whose goal is simply to kill 
as many Americans as possible and to strike such fear into civilized 
nations that freedom itself is forced into retreat.
  To combat this deadly threat, the President has rightly--rightly--
asserted his constitutional authority to use every tool at his disposal 
to fight the war on terror. One of those tools is the NSA's terrorist 
surveillance program.
  Yet despite the grave terrorist threat, I fear too many have 
forgotten that we are, indeed, a nation at war, and so have forgotten 
the vital need for the terrorist surveillance program. Perhaps it is 
because we have not seen another attack on American soil since 
September 11, despite, I might add, the terrorists' best efforts.
  But there can be no doubt that al-Qaida terrorists are still plotting 
brutal attacks against this country and other freedom-loving countries. 
For proof of this, look no further than a recent audiotape made by 
Osama bin Laden himself. In a tape aired on Al-Jazeera television last 
month, bin Laden said this:

       The mujahadeen, with God's grace, have managed repeatedly 
     to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust 
     allied countries. The proof of that is the explosions you 
     have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in 
     this aggressive coalition.

  He went on:

       Similar operations happening in America. . . . are under 
     preparation, and you will see them in your homes the minute 
     they are through.

  A not-so-veiled threat for another attack here at home. It couldn't 
be any clearer than that: ``Similar operations,'' so Osama bin Laden 
said, ``are under preparation, and you will see them in your homes the 
minute they are through.''
  At this very moment, al-Qaida operatives in America, right here at 
home--madmen such as Mohamed Atta--may be plotting attacks. What kinds 
of attacks could they be hatching? Here is one example.
  In 2003, authorities apprehended a man named Iyman Faris for 
assisting al-Qaida in plotting and planning a terrorist attack. Faris 
is an American citizen. He lived in Ohio before being taken into 
Federal custody.
  In 2002, Faris traveled to Pakistan where he met with known members 
of al-Qaida. The terrorists told him they were planning attacks in New 
York and here in Washington, and asked if he would help.

[[Page S784]]

  So Faris elected to return to America, visit New York City, and 
reconnoiter the Brooklyn Bridge with the intent of finding the best 
means to destroy it. He even went so far as to research how to sever 
the cables supporting the bridge. Approximately 135,000 vehicles cross 
the Brooklyn Bridge every day.
  According to the Washington Post, Government officials have privately 
credited Faris's arrest to the President's terrorist surveillance 
program. Faris has since pleaded guilty to having plotted to destroy 
the Brooklyn Bridge, a direct result of the terrorism surveillance 
program.
  This time the terrorists did not succeed, but as we all know, while 
our goal is to stop them every time, their goal is to succeed just 
once.
  Let me repeat that. We have to stop them every time. They only have 
to succeed once.
  To uncover and disrupt attacks such as this, the President must 
aggressively use every tool at his disposal to exercise his authority 
under the Constitution to protect America. To do any less would be a 
dereliction of duty.

  A major part of the war on terror is the terrorist surveillance 
program. This very narrowly tailored program intercepts international 
communications--not domestic, even though that word has been used a lot 
in error--international communications by members of al-Qaida or other 
suspected terrorist groups outside America into this country, or by 
those terrorists' allies in this country out to terrorists in foreign 
lands. So the universe is international communications. Public 
mischaracterizations have portrayed this terrorist surveillance program 
as something ominous, as if the Government is listening in to domestic 
phone calls made by average, law-abiding Americans. That is flat out 
wrong, and those mischaracterizations ought to cease.
  If someone is calling from Tora Bora, they are not calling to order a 
pizza. Let me repeat: If someone is calling from Tora Bora, they are 
not calling to order a pizza.
  The NSA is only interested in al-Qaida sleeper agents in the United 
States, men such as Iyman Faris, the Brooklyn Bridge bomber, who call 
or receive calls from known agents of al-Qaida or affiliated terrorist 
groups abroad with instructions for their next deadly mission.
  The NSA terrorist surveillance program is not only entirely 
necessary, it is entirely lawful. The President enjoys broad authority 
under the Constitution to protect all Americans. And the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, the court charged with 
reviewing the legality of measures such as the terrorism surveillance 
program, has confirmed that the President has broad powers with respect 
to foreign intelligence gathering.
  The court wrote in 2002 that, with respect to conducting searches 
without warrants in order to obtain foreign intelligence information:

       We take for granted that the President does have that 
     authority, and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach 
     upon the President's constitutional power.

  That could not be more clear. That is the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Court of Review saying:

       We take for granted that the President does have that 
     authority, and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach 
     upon the President's constitutional power.

  If that is not enough legal authority, here is more. Congress 
delegated broad war powers to the President when it authorized the war 
on terror in 2001. The Senate passed that authorization 98 to 0 with 
the support of many of the same Democrats who vehemently speak against 
the program today.
  That authorization empowered the President to ``use all necessary and 
appropriate force'' to fight terror. It did not say ``some force.'' It 
did not say ``all force except when it comes to international 
communications intercepts.'' It did not even say ``all force now, less 
later, depending on the political landscape.'' It said ``all force,'' 
and ``all force'' means ``all force.''
  However, opponents of the terrorism surveillance program apparently 
do not want to allow the President to use all the force at his disposal 
to fight terror. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, 
recently expressed his strong disapproval, and this is how he put it:

       President Bush's secret program to spy on the American 
     people reminds Americans of the abuse of power during the 
     days of President Nixon and Vice President Agnew.

  That is Howard Dean's appraisal of the terrorism surveillance 
program. That is from the leader of the Democratic Party. Obviously, he 
completely misses the point.
  The terrorist surveillance program intercepts calls between known al-
Qaida terrorists and their affiliates overseas and the al-Qaida 
terrorist accomplices here in America. As the President has said, if 
you are calling al-Qaida, we want to know why.
  The only conclusion one can draw from statements such as Governor 
Dean's--statements that explicitly compare programs that stop 
terrorists who want to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge to illegal activity 
from a generation ago--is that he opposes the program and wants it 
stopped.
  We cannot fight the war on terror with one hand tied behind our 
backs. That is exactly the wrong direction we need to take in the war 
on terror. After more than 4 years since the devastating attack of 
September 11, this is still a hard-fought battle. Al-Qaida's leader, 
Osama bin Laden himself, has bragged--has bragged--about impending 
attacks.
  If anyone doubts the death-crazed tenacity of our enemies, let them 
hear these words, also from the bin Laden audiotape I quoted from 
earlier. Here is what he had to say further:

       We will seek revenge all our lives. The nights and days 
     will not pass without us taking vengeance, like on September 
     11, God permitting. Your minds will be troubled and your 
     lives embittered.

  Clearly our enemy is cunning and our enemy is cruel. We must be 
aggressive about using every tool at our disposal to fight the war on 
terror.
  I applaud the President for doing just that, and for remaining 
unbowed in the face of loud criticism from a few as he continues to 
carry out his duty to protect America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado is recognized.

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