[NYTr] Spy chief: China, Russia spying on U.S.

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Sep 18, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPYING_ON_US?SITE=FLPEJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Spy chief: China, Russia spying on U.S.

By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- China and Russia are spying on the United States
nearly as much as they did during the Cold War, according to the top
U.S. intelligence official.

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says in
testimony prepared for a Tuesday congressional hearing that a law
passed last month expanding the U.S. government's eavesdropping power
is needed to protect not just against terrorists but also against more
traditional potential adversaries, such as those two Cold War foes.

"China and Russia's foreign intelligence services are among the most
aggressive in collecting against sensitive and protected U.S. systems,
facilities and development projects, and their efforts are approaching
Cold War levels," McConnell says in his testimony. "Foreign
intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and
intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect
the nation and preserve our security."

The new law will also enable the intelligence agencies to identify
"sleeper cells" of terrorists in the United States, according to
McConnell's statement to the House Judiciary Committee.

Congress last month hastily adopted the Protect America Act just before
it went on summer vacation, propelled by McConnell's warnings of a need
to close a dangerous gap in U.S. intelligence law.

Some lawmakers are now having second thoughts as the complicated law -
intended to make it easier for the government to intercept foreign
calls and e-mails - has come under attack by civil liberties and
privacy advocates who contend it gives the government broader powers
than intended.

The Protect America Act allows the government to listen in, without a
court order, on all communications conducted by a person reasonably
believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one
end of the conversation.

Such surveillance was generally prohibited under the original Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act and it is one of the more controversial
aspects of the new law.

But McConnell's prepared testimony says one of the most important new
powers granted by the law is the possibility of obtaining a call or
e-mail "from a foreign terrorist outside the United States to a
previously unknown 'sleeper' or coconspirator inside the United States."

While some Democrats are angling to roll back what they consider the
excesses of the new law, McConnell and Assistant Attorney General
Kenneth Wainstein are pushing Congress to make even more changes to
FISA.

Among the changes they seek is a new definition for "electronic
surveillance." The legal definition includes not just which
technologies are used to conduct the surveillance, but also whom is
targeted, what communications are collected, where the target is and
where the eavesdropping takes place. The definition is critical because
it limits the government's power. FISA generally requires court orders
for any activity deemed to be "electronic surveillance."

© 2007 The Associated Press.