Spy chief reveals scope of Bush's secret program

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's chief intelligence official said yesterday that President Bush authorized a series of secret intelligence activities under a single executive order in late 2001, making clear that a National Security Agency surveillance effort was part of a much broader operation than the president previously described.

The disclosure by Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, appears to be the first time the administration has publicly acknowledged that Bush's order included undisclosed activities beyond the warrantless surveillance of e-mail and phone calls that Bush confirmed in December 2005.

In a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), McConnell wrote that the executive order after the Sept. 11 attacks included "a number of . . . intelligence activities" and that a phrase routinely used by the administration - the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) - applied only to "one particular aspect of these activities, and nothing more."

"This is the only aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly, because it is the only aspect of those various activities whose existence has been officially acknowledged," he wrote.

The program that Bush announced was put under court supervision in January, but the administration wants congressional approval to do much of the same surveillance without a court order.

McConnell's letter was aimed at defending Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales from allegations by Democrats that he may have committed perjury by telling Congress that no legal objections had been raised about the TSP. Gonzales said a legal fight in early 2004 was focused on "other intelligence activities" than those confirmed by Bush.

McConnell's letter also underscored that the full scope of the NSA's surveillance program under Bush's order had not been revealed. The TSP described by Bush and his aides allowed the interception of communication between the United States and other countries in which one party is believed to be tied to al-Qaeda.

News reports over the last 20 months have detailed a range of activities linked to the program, including the use of data mining to identify surveillance targets and the participation of telecommunication companies in turning over millions of phone records. The administration has not publicly confirmed such reports.

A spokesman for McConnell declined to elaborate on the letter. The Justice Department also declined to comment.

Specter was noncommittal yesterday on whether McConnell's explanation resolved his questions about the accuracy of Gonzales' previous testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Specter is the ranking Republican. Specter said he was waiting for a separate letter from the attorney general to provide additional clarification.

"If he doesn't have a plausible explanation," Specter said on CNN, "then he hasn't leveled with the committee."