Dems cancel meeting with DNI Mike McConnell amid FISA furor

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/hearing-with-dni-chief-canceled-amid-fisa-furor-2007-07-31.html

Hearing with DNI chief canceled amid FISA furor
By Susan Crabtree
July 31, 2007

House Democrats canceled Tuesday’s planned hearing with Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, prompting a rebuke from Republicans who want Congress to proceed quickly on updating a key surveillance law.

The cancellation of the hearing comes amid an uproar in Congress over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s perceived lack of candor about a warrantless surveillance program and the Bush administration’s insistence that reform of the court process governing the eavesdropping program is needed in the face of a heightened terrorist threat.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence sent out notice of the hearing’s cancellation late Monday, noting that it had been postponed until after the August congressional recess.

The move prompted howls from House Republicans, who echoed administration assertions that the legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, the legal authority for the eavesdropping program, is needed before the August recess because of its critical importance to U.S. national security.

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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/hearing-with-dni-chief-canceled-amid-fisa-furor-2007-07-31.html