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http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/NATION/884596216/1001

“Republicans say FISA authority in Constitution”
By Bill Gertz
January 21, 2008

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Authority to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance comes from the Constitution and is vital to stopping foreign terrorist attacks and spies, says a Republican staff assessment of the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“There is nothing new or aggressive about relying on Article II authority in the context of foreign intelligence surveillance,” stated the assessment produced by the office of Sen. Christopher S. Bond, Missouri Republican and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

The 13-page assessment counters Democrats and other critics of the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) who argued during a Senate filibuster of the legislation last month that electronic spying is illegal, began before the September 11 attacks, and that the program spied improperly on domestic telephone and electronic communications.”