Bipartisan group blasts NSA wiretaps

WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. bipartisan group Wednesday said the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program is illegal.

The Liberty and Security Committee of the Constitution Project said in a statement that the U.S. Congress should finish its probe into the warrantless surveillance program before it heeds the urging of the Bush administration to beef up laws on electronic surveillance.

Those signing the statement included: David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Walter Cronkite, former managing editor of CBS Evening News; former Rep. Mickey Edwards, R-Okla., the chairman of the Republican Party Policy Committee; Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School; and William S. Sessions, former FBI director under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

"The NSA's warrantless surveillance program has stood for too long as an affront to America's rule of law," said Keene, a co-chair of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee. "The American people deserve to know why and to what extent the NSA has been tapping Americans' phones without a warrant."

The committee said the administration's surveillance program "upends separate, balanced powers by thwarting the will of Congress and preventing any opportunity for judicial review.

"Congress should be applauded for taking steps to uncover the truth about the spying program," said Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior counsel at the Constitution Project. "Congress must complete its investigation before considering any changes to the law governing electronic surveillance."

The statement was published one week after a deadline for the White House and the Department of Justice to comply with Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenas to provide documents about the NSA's domestic surveillance program. The White House has asked for and been given an extension on the deadline.