2006年VOA标准英语-US Congress to Open Hearings on Domestic S

By Deborah Tate
Capitol Hill
03 February 2006

Congressional hearings begin Monday on President Bush's decision to order, without warrants, eavesdropping¹ on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists. Some lawmakers continue to question the legality of the program, despite a strong defense² of the effort by Bush administration officials.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee will be conducting the hearings. Its chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, has made no secret of his concern about the surveillance program, which was first revealed by the New York Times in December.

"When you got beyond the headline, starting with the headline that the president authorized⁴ these wiretaps, surveillance of citizens in the United States, that is wrong, and it cannot be condoned⁵ at all," he said.

Employees of US National Security Agency sit in the Threat Operations Center (file photo)
  
  
President Bush signed an order in 2002 authorizing⁶ the eavesdropping on international phone calls and e-mails between people in the United States and suspected terrorists overseas. The program bypasses a special federal court whose approval is required under a 1978 law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - or FISA - for domestic eavesdropping operations.

Administration officials argue the president has the constitutional authority to order such wiretaps without warrants to protect national security. They also say Congress gave him authority to do so when it passed a resolution authorizing the use of force to respond to those responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States - namely, the al-Qaida terrorist network led by Osama bin⁷ Laden⁸.

Alberto Gonzales  
  
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is expected to say as much when he testifies before the committee on Monday. But he has made clear he would not talk about how the program is being conducted.

"The absolute worst thing we can do is to talk about the operational aspects of a highly classified program that has been very successful in protecting America, and to divulge⁹ all that information to the enemy," he said. "So what I am going to do is come before the Senate Judiciary Committee and talk about the legal authorities in connection with this the program."

But critics disagree with the administration's defense of the constitutionality of the surveillance program.

"The congressional authorization¹¹ for the use of military force against Osama bin Laden did not authorize³ warrantless spying on Americans, as the Bush administration is now proclaiming," said Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat¹² on the Judiciary Committee.

Other critics say the lack of judicial¹³ approval violates current law and the Constitution.

But Republican supporters of the program defend the need to bypass the court and warrants to allow for swift action against the new terrorist threats of the 21st century.

"The FISA law, the 1970s-era law was designed primarily to deal with agents, for example, of the Soviet¹⁴ Union," said Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican. "It was predicated on the kind of process we use in criminal courts, where you go swear out affidavits¹⁵ for a warrant, in this case, and then collect information. That kind of format¹⁰ is not suitable for the kind of technology that is used today by our intelligence community to gather large volumes of information in a real time situation, which cannot accommodate a lengthy¹⁶ and time consuming search warrant kind of procedure which is embedded¹⁷ in the FISA law."

Some lawmakers say legislation may be necessary to update the law.

President Bush says that would not only be unnecessary, but dangerous.

"My concern has always been that in an attempt to try to pass a law on something that's already legal, we'll show the enemy what we're doing," he said. "And we have briefed Congress - members of Congress. We'll continue to do that, but it's important for people to understand that this program is so sensitive and so important, that if information gets out to how it's - how we do it, or how we operate, it will help the enemy."

Intelligence officials say they want to see the program continue.

General Michael Hayden  
  
General Michael Hayden is principal deputy director of national intelligence, and former Director of the National Security Agency, which has been conducting the surveillance program. He addressed the issue at a public hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday.

"This program has been successful," he said. "We have learned information from this program that would not have been available to us otherwise. This information has helped detect and prevent terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad."

The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Porter Goss, told the committee the disclosure of the program has undermined U.S. intelligence-gathering abilities, and called for a federal probe into who leaked the information.

The Intelligence Committee plans its own hearings on the issue in the coming weeks.

1 eavesdropping   

n. 偷听

参考例句：

• We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
• Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

4 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

5 condoned   

v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Terrorism can never be condoned. 决不能容忍恐怖主义。
• They condoned his sins because he repented. 由于他的悔悟，他们宽恕了他的罪。 来自辞典例句

6 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

7 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

8 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

9 divulge   

v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布

参考例句：

• They refused to divulge where they had hidden the money.他们拒绝说出他们把钱藏在什么地方。
• He swore never to divulge the secret.他立誓决不泄露秘密。

10 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

11 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

12 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

13 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

14 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

15 affidavits   

n.宣誓书，（经陈述者宣誓在法律上可采作证据的）书面陈述( affidavit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The woman offered written affidavits proving that she was the widow of Pancho Villa. 这女人提供书面证书，证明自己是庞科·比亚的遗孀。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The appeal was adjourned for affidavits to be obtained. 为获得宣誓证明书，上诉被推迟。 来自口语例句

16 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

17 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。