Bush Calls for Expansion of Spy Law

President Bush follows behind Vice President Dick Cheney as they arrive for the president to make a statement to reporters during a visit to the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Md., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)

Bush timed his visit to Fort Meade to press his case.

"The threat from al-Qaida is not going to expire in 135 days," he said, "so I call on Congress to make the Protect America Act permanent."

He also urged lawmakers to expand the law, not restrict it. One provision particularly important to the administration, but opposed by many Democrats, would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies which may have helped the government conduct surveillance before January 2007 without a court order.

Bush was joined at the podium in an NSA hallway by Vice President Dick Cheney, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and others.

The president received private briefings from intelligence officials and mingled with employees in the National Threat Operations Center. While cameras and reporters were in the room, the large video screens that lined the walls displayed unclassified information on computer crime and signal intelligence.

Along one wall at NSA is a sign that says, "We won't back down. We never have. We never will."

___

On the Net:

National Security Agency: http://www.nsa.gov/