No. That isn't the issue. What the statute actually prohibits is any phone call between an overseas al Qaeda operative and a US citizen in the US.
But as a practical matter the federal statute also prevents the President from intercepting a phone call between an al Qaeda operative overseas and any US phone number, irrespective whether the person is a US citizen or a foreigner. That's because it creates a Catch-22. He can't intercept the call unless he knows that it does not involve a US citizen, but he can't know that until after he's already intercepted the call.
We appear to be talking past each other. They CAN intercept the call from any AQ operative to anyone. There's nothing that stops them. It's not like they have KSM being monitored, he calls Mohammed in Jersey City and NSA has to immediately hang up. It's perfectly legal to keep listening. They just have to notify the FISC w/in 3 days if it's to a US Citizen(and that's only if they want to use it in court). If they want to use the info to nab someone overseas or take someone out, I don't think they have to notify anyone.
But, I think we've had enough of an exchange of views here. I don'tt hink we'll really know what this is about until more info comes out about this. Until we really know what this involved, how many people have been spied on, who's been spied on, etc... we'll only have half of the story.