Intelligence

Senator Byrd on Wednesday called for a thorough investigation into possible violations of intelligence law and the Constitution by the Bush Administration.

"We have to know what is being done, by whom, and to whom. We need to know if the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act has been breached, and if the Constitutional rights of thousands of Americans have been violated without cause," Byrd stated on the floor of the Senate.

On Thursday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is expected to vote on whether to have a Congressional investigation into the warrantless domestic eavesdropping program. Byrd hopes that the Committee will vote for such an examination.

"I believe that both current law and the Constitution may have been violated -- not once, but many times -- and in ways that the Congress and the people may never know because of this White House and its penchant for control and secrecy," Byrd said.

The West Virginia lawmaker, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has expressed increasing concerns about the Administration’s end-run around the Congress, intelligence laws, and the Constitution. Byrd urged his colleagues to avoid the usual partisan battle lines on such issues and, instead, to put the long-term interests of the nation at the top of the priority list.

"The culture of secrecy which has deepened since the attacks on September 11 has presented this nation with an awful dilemma. In order to protect this open society are we to believe that measures must be taken that in insidious and unconstitutional ways close it down? I believe that the answer must be an emphatic ‘no,’" Byrd stated.

"I hear strange comments coming from some members of Congress to the effect that well, if the President has broken the law, let’s just change the law. That is tantamount to saying that whatever the President does is legal, and the last time we heard that claim was from the White House of Richard M. Nixon. Congress must rise to the occasion here and demand answers to the serious questions surrounding warrantless spying. And Congress must stop being spooked by false charges that unless it goes along in blind obedience with every outrageous violation of the separation of powers, it is soft on terrorism," Byrd said.

Byrd raised key issues during his speech on Wednesday: how many Americans have been spied upon; how is it determined which individuals are monitored and who makes such determinations; is the telecommunications industry is involved in a massive screening of the domestic telephone calls of ordinary Americans; and is the United States Postal Service involved.

"In the name of ‘fighting terror,’ are we to sacrifice every freedom to a President’s demand? How far are we to go? Can a President order warrantless house-by-house searches of a neighborhood, where he suspects a terrorist may be hiding? Can he impose new restrictions on what can be printed, broadcast, or even uttered privately, because of some perceived threat to national security? Laughable thoughts? I think not. For this Administration has so traumatized the people of this nation -- and many in the Congress - - that some will swallow whole whatever rubbish that is spewed from this White House, as long as it is in some tenuous way connected to the so-called war on terror," Byrd said.

"This President, in my judgement, may have broken the law, and most certainly has violated the spirit of the Constitution and the public trust," Byrd said.

"I plead with the American public to tune-in to what is happening in this country. Please forget the political party with which you may usually be associated, and, instead, think about the right of due process, the presumption of innocence, and the right to a private life," Byrd stated.