Gen. Hayden is reported now to be "willing to consider trying to bring the NSA wiretap program, as it exists now, under federal law." Where is it now? Under Uzbekistan law?
http://www.sfgate.com/...
CIA pick says he may quit military
He also hints at more oversight of wiretaps
Charles Babington, Washington Post
Washington -- President Bush's choice to head the CIA told senators Wednesday that he would consider retiring from the military and bringing a controversial surveillance program "under federal law," senators and aides said.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden continued to meet privately with senators, including some on the Intelligence Committee, which will begin confirmation hearings on his nomination May 18. Several asked Hayden, who once headed the National Security Agency, about the agency's program that eavesdrops on Americans without obtaining warrants.
Bush has said the program wiretaps international communications involving at least one person in the United States when one party is considered a possible terrorism suspect. Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers have asked why the program bypasses the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which established a system for seeking warrants from a secret court.
The administration lobbied to avert full-blown congressional investigations into the program earlier this year. However, one pending Senate bill would bring it under the auspices of the FISA court, while another, sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, would allow the warrantless wiretaps to continue only if the administration explains its reasoning to a small group of lawmakers.
After meeting Wednesday with Hayden, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters that the general said "that with all the publicity that's been surrounding this program, (Hayden) may be closer to the possibility of asking for a change" in its oversight. Durbin paraphrased Hayden as saying, "I'm willing to consider trying to bring the NSA wiretap program, as it exists now, under federal law." ...