Arlen Specter: “on Monday, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the administration's electronic surveillance program and we dealt…”

“on Monday, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the administration's electronic surveillance program and we dealt solely with the issues of law as to whether the resolution to authorize the use of force on September 14 provided authority in contradistinction to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which flatly prohibits any kind of electronic surveillance without a court order. Then we got into the issue of the President's inherent powers under article II. It is difficult to define those powers without knowing more about the program and we do not know about the program. It was beyond the scope of our hearing, but it is something that may be taken up by the Intelligence Committee. But I made a suggestion to the administration in a letter, in which I wrote to Attorney General Gonzales and put in the Record at our Judiciary Committee hearing, that the administration ought to submit this program to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. They have the expertise and they are trustworthy. It is a regrettable fact of life in Washington that there are leaks from the Congress and there are leaks from the administration, but the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has been able to maintain its secrecy. The Attorney General said the administration was disinclined to do that. In response to the letter, he wrote, a written response, he said that they would exercise all of their options.…”