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Powell supports eavesdropping
25/12/2005 21:33 - (SA)
Washington - Former secretary of state Colin Powell on Sunday supported government eavesdropping to prevent terrorism. But, he said, a major controversy over presidential powers could have been avoided by obtaining court warrants.
Powell said that when he was in the cabinet, he was not told that President George W Bush authorised a warrant-less national security agency (NSA) surveillance operation after the 9/11 attacks.
Appearing on ABC's This Week Powell said he sees "absolutely nothing wrong with the president authorising these kinds of actions" to protect the nation.
But he added: "My own judgment is that it didn't seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to go get the warrants. "And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it."
The New York Times reported on its internet site on Friday that the NSA had traced and analysed large volumes of telephone and internet communications flowing into and out of the United States. The programme bypassed the secret foreign intelligence surveillance court.
Powell said congress would need to judge whether Bush was correct in his assertion that he could approve eavesdropping without first obtaining court orders.
"And that's going to be a great debate," Powell said.
Powell, who also is a former chair of the military joint chiefs of staff, had no reservations when asked whether eavesdropping should continue.
"Of course it should continue," he said. "And nobody is suggesting that the president shouldn't do this."
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