Terence Hunt, of the Associated Press, please, please do your research.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Saturday that lawmakers' failure to renew an eavesdropping law will make it more difficult to track terrorists and "we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America."
Democrats faulted the president, who taped his weekly radio address before he left on a trip in Africa, for "whipping up false fears and creating artificial confrontation."
"Their true concern here is not national security," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. "Rather they want to protect the financial interests of telecommunications companies and avoid judicial scrutiny of their warrantless wiretapping program."
At issue is a law that made it easier for the government to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. The expiration time: midnight Saturday.
Yes, that's what is at issue. And you don't address that issue at all. For gawd's sake, there are facts involved here. And they aren't "Bush Facts." Yes, reporting what he said, and then what they said is much simpler, and far less taxing to the brain.
The simple truth on this particular issue is that all of the mechanisms for continued surveillance are in place and remain in place regardless of the expiration of the PAA. And this simple truth is not that hard to find.
You could look at DNI McConnell's statement from yesterday:
NPR: Mr. McConnell, the Bush administration says that if the Protect America Act isn't made permanent, it will tie your hands, intelligence hands, especially when it comes to new threats. But isn't it true that any surveillance underway does not expire, even if this law isn't renewed by tomorrow?
MCCONNELL: Well, Renee it's a very complex issue. It's true that some of the authorities would carry over to the period they were established for one year. That would put us into the August, September time-frame. However, that's not the real issue. The issue is liability protection for the private sector.
Got that? The real issue isn't keeping us safe--straight from the Director of National Intelligence. We're safe.
Or you could ask an intelligence analyst.
"There's no reason to think our nation will be in any more danger in 2008 than it was in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006," said Timothy Lee, a scholar at the Cato Institute, explaining the original FISA rules contain the tools necessary for thorough government surveillance.
You could, of course, also read the statute:
`ADDITIONAL PROCEDURE FOR AUTHORIZING CERTAIN ACQUISITIONS CONCERNING PERSONS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES
`Sec. 105B. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General, may for periods of up to one year authorize the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning persons reasonably believed to be outside the United States.
That's the part that McConnell was admitting to in the first quote.
To sum up, Mr. Hunt: Nothing. Changes. At. Midnight. Tonight. The sky ain't gonna fall because Mr. Bush didn't get his way after this particular temper tantrum.