Analysts: FISA will suffice

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Some intelligence analysts say the United States is in no danger from Saturday's expiration of a wiretapping law known as the Protect America Act.

They say the expiration will have little effect on national security, despite dire warnings from the Bush administration about renewed efforts by terrorists, The Washington Times reported Saturday.

Domestic wiretapping regulations now revert to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, a 30-year-old law requiring the government to obtain a court warrant to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance in the United States, the Times said.

"There's no reason to think our nation will be in any more danger in 2008 than it was in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006," said Timothy Lee, a scholar at the Cato Institute, explaining the original FISA rules contain the tools necessary for thorough government surveillance.