Congressman Leonard Boswell says President Bush’s decision to forge ahead with wiretaps on terrorists — without getting the approval of a “secret” court set up to approve such wiretaps — is the wrong decision. “I don’t think he’s taken the proper approach to it,” Boswell says.
Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the federal court set up to review requests for wiretaps is “adequate” and rarely turns any request down. “I don’t think (that court) should be sidestepped and 30-plus times, now, that’s been done and maybe more,” Boswell says.
Boswell is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and the panel met Thursday with the director of the Central Intelligence Agency to discuss the issue. It was the “most open, give-and-take dialogue” the committee has ever had with the C-I-A director, according to Boswell. Boswell, who was a career military man who had a security clearance to see some classified documents, says the Bush Administration needs to cure itself of it’s tendency to operate on a “need to know” basis rather than a “need to share” mentality that Boswell argues is necessary to get all levels of government participating in catching terrorists.
Boswell made his comments during taping of the Iowa Public Television program “Iowa Press” which airs this (Friday) evening.