Lawmakers used the government’s early warning of a terrorist threat to defend the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance programs on Sunday, saying the threat — which some have described as among the most serious since 9/11 — might not have been detected without the government’s aggressive intelligence-gathering tools.
Sources tell CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that intelligence officials learned about the threat, in part, as a result of “intercepts” of terrorist chatter that indicate that the operation is in “the final stages” and “it could be big.”
Skeptics of the government’s surveillance authority, however, said there’s no clear indication that the NSA programs under scrutinycontributed any information about the particulars of this plot, which compelled the State Department to issue a travel alert and close 22 embassies and consulates across the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday.
For some, though, the plot is proof-positive of the need to preserve the embattled surveillance programs. “The NSA program is proving its worth yet again,” declared Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on CNN. The hawkish Republican said that al Qaeda is “on the rise” across the Middle East and North Africa, warning that America risks another 9/11 by disengaging.
“To the members of Congress who want to reform the NSA program — great,” he said. “But if you want to gut it, you make us much less safe, and you’re putting our nation at risk. We need to have policies in place that can deal with the threats that exist, and they are real, and they are growing.”
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., called the threat warning a “wake up call,” strongly rebutting those who have suggested that the government is hyping the terrorist threat to distract from the controversy engendered by its spying programs.
“It’s absolutely crazy to say there’s any conspiracy here,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” In light of the intelligence reports he and other lawmakers have received, King said, “The government would have been totally negligent if it did not take the actions taken.
“Whether or not there was any controversy over the NSA at all,” he said, “these actions would have been taken.”
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the terrorist “chatter” picked up by intelligence officials was “very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.”
And the NSA programs, of which Chambliss has been a staunch defender, “allow us to have the ability to gather this chatter,” he said. “If we did not have these programs then we simply wouldn’t be able to listen in on the bad guys.”
CBS News has the full article
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