Bush backs off on surveillance powers

? Facing pressure from lawsuits and a Democratic Congress, the Bush administration reversed course Wednesday, saying it will now submit to an independent court for approval of the controversial warrantless wiretapping that the president had ordered on his own asserted authority.

President Bush will not renew his 45-day executive order for the five-year-old Terrorist Surveillance Program when it expires in the next few weeks, and will go through the special court instead, officials said.

The unexpected announcement appeared to be a concession to critics who have charged since the National Security Agency program was revealed a year ago that Bush had acted outside of the law when he authorized it after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Critics and members of Congress cautiously welcomed the step, but they pointed out that the administration insists the president still has the inherent authority to order surveillance without a court order.

They also complained about the sketchy details released Wednesday, raising questions about whether the special court approval was for the entire program or for individual targets, and about how many U.S. persons are being spied on.

“The announcement raises more questions than it answers,” said one critic, Kate Martin of the Center on National Security Studies.

Ann Beeson, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney handling a lawsuit challenging the program’s legality, added, “The timing is fishy.”

The announcement came a day before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee and two weeks before oral arguments in the ACLU suit before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gonzales is likely to face hard questions today at that hearing, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the committee chairman, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the ranking member.

Both lamented that it took the administration five years to comply with the law.

The change in policy was revealed in a letter from Gonzales to Leahy and Specter. It said the surveillance “will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.”

That court was created by Congress in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act specifically to approve government surveillance of the electronic communications of people in the United States.

The letter said the administration had been exploring FISA court approval since spring 2005 – before The New York Times revealed the program in December 2005.