Spy Chief Seeks More Eavesdropping Power

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Feb. 27, 2007, file photo. The top U.S. intelligence official is asking Congress for even more changes to a law that he says limited the government's ability to eavesdrop, not just on terrorists but also on more traditional potential adversaries. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File) (Dennis Cook - AP)

WASHINGTON -- No Americans' telephones have been tapped without a court order since at least February, the top U.S. intelligence official told Congress Tuesday.

But National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell could not say how many Americans' phone conversations have been overheard because of U.S. wiretaps on foreign phone lines.

"I don't have the exact number ... considering there are billions of transactions every day," McConnell told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing on the law governing federal surveillance of phone calls and e-mails.

McConnell said he could only speak authoritatively about the seven months since he became DNI.

In a newspaper interview last month, he said the government had tapped fewer than 100 Americans' phones and e-mails under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires warrants from a secret intelligence court.

McConnell is seeking additional changes to the law, which Congress hastily modified just before going on vacation in August based in part on the intelligence chief's warnings of a dire gap in U.S. intelligence.

The new law eased some of the restrictions on government eavesdropping contained in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to let the government more efficiently intercept foreign communications.

Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop, without a court order, on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one end of the conversation _ so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance.

Before McConnell can convince Congress to make the Protect America Act permanent _ and agree to even more changes easing the provisions of FISA _ he first has to allay concerns that the law passed so hastily earlier this year does not subject Americans to unwarranted government surveillance.

"The right to privacy is too important to be sacrificed in a last-minute rush before a congressional recess, which is what happened," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the panel's chairman.

Democrats worry that the law could be interpreted to open business records, library files, personal mail, and homes to searches by intelligence and law enforcement officers without a court order.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein said the new surveillance powers granted by the Protect America Act apply only when the assistance of a communications company is needed to conduct the surveillance. Therefore, he said, the government could not use the law to search homes, open mail or collect business records because no communications provider would be involved in such a transaction.