White House reverses course on spy program

What a difference a year makes!

Can't help it, we are still paranoid.

Are the Bushites on the run, in the face of a veritable hurricane of dissent, or are we being set up for another "new Pearl Harbor?"

Or have they found another way to accomplish the same goals through a different methods entirely? Scroll down

White House reverses course on spy program - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - A year after disclosure of a domestic spying program that President Bush maintained was within his authority to operate, the administration shifted its position and said it would seek the approval of an independent panel of federal judges.

The program allowed the National Security Agency — without a court-issued warrant _to monitor phone calls and e-mails between the United States and other countries when a link to terrorism was suspected. Bush secretly authorized the program shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told senators in a letter Wednesday that 'any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.'

Gonzales announced the change on the eve of his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his first since the committee came under control of Democrats after the November elections. Congressional intelligence committees had already been briefed on the shift.