Pat Dollard | Young Americans

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Politico:

The Bush administration informed Congress on Friday that the government has “lost intelligence” because of the expiration of surveillance legislation caught in a political tug of war.

“We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act,” says an underlined passage of a six-page letter signed by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell.

The letter does not give details. A copy of the letter is here.

The assertion is an effort by President Bush to ratchet up pressure on the House and Senate to pass a new version of the Protect America Act, which gave the government enhanced powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists.

The enhancements, which make it easier for the government to monitor communications of suspected terrorists without obtaining a warrant, were passed in August and expired last weekend.

Democratic congressional leaders, who are negotiating the provisions of a new version, have charged the administration with using “scare tactics.”

Democrats also contend that administration officials dragged their feet in making available records that lawmakers needed to work on the legislation.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a letter to Bush on Feb. 14 that he takes “strong offense to your suggestion in recent days that the country will be vulnerable to terrorist attack unless Congress immediately enacts legislation giving you broader powers to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans’ communications and provides legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program.”

Current intelligence activities are not affected by the expiration for a year. But the government contends that new intelligence targets cannot be certified for surveillance, creating potential gaps in intelligence.

“Because of this uncertainty, some partners have reduced cooperation,” the administration letter says. “We are working to mitigate these problems. … This uncertainty may well continue to cause us to miss information that we otherwise would be collecting.”

A Democratic congressional aide said staff of the Senate and House Judiciary and Intelligence committees met this week and plan to work intensely with the administration on a solution.

“This is important legislation, and it is critical to get it right,” the aide said.

One possibility is hearings about the scope of the enhancements. Administration officials contend that would just provide a platform to air their account of measures they have taken to protect the country.

The legislation is the subject of the president’s radio address on Saturday.

White House officials have been working hard to keep the issue on the public radar screen, including making calls to radio talk shows to argue that the administration’s preferred provisions would stop attacks and save lives.

Democrats also have been working to get their message out. Reyes, the House intelligence chairman, told NPR on Thursday: “President Bush has just been spoiled dealing with the Republican-controlled Congress before. I take strong offense at the president’s comments that somehow we’re less safe because the Protect America Act expired.”