Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says the Bush administration would much rather have a hearing on the spying process — rather than on the substance of the policy.
DANIEL SCHORR: As with the CIA leak, so with the NSA leak:  The process diverts      attention from the substance.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr.</s>DANIEL SCHORR: In the case of the CIA leak, the substance was that former      Ambassador Joseph Wilson had pinned the Bush administration to the wall      on its allegations of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  The process      has been the subject of a two-year investigation by a special counsel, in      which one person has so far been indicted.  The issue is:  Who leaked the      information about Wilson and his CIA wife to whom and whether the White      House intended to cover up the leak?</s>DANIEL SCHORR: In the case of the NSA, the substance of the matter is the legality,      perhaps the constitutionality, of the president's action in ordering,      without the required warrants from the secret court, electronic      monitoring by the National Security Agency of specified persons who may      or may not be abroad.  Last Saturday on short notice the president      replaced his regular radio talk and appeared live to defend his wiretap      orders as an anti-terrorist measure and to announce that he had every      intention of continuing the practice.  Thus he was bypassing the 1978      Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act setting up the secret courts.</s>DANIEL SCHORR: The administration, meanwhile, sought to change the subject of the leak      of the information to The New York Times.  At his news conference on      Monday, Mr. Bush said, rather dramatically, that a two-minute telephone      conversation between someone linked to al-Qaeda in the United States and      an operative overseas could lead directly to the loss of thousands of      lives.  Mr. Bush said he expected the Justice Department to proceed with      a full investigation of the leak.  He said, `We're at war, and we must      protect America's secrets.' Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said, `A      very valuable tool has been compromised.'</s>DANIEL SCHORR: As to the practice of wiretapping without warrant, that could figure in a      long-delayed battle with Congress over the limits of untrammeled      executive power.  Chairman Arlen Specter promises to hold Senate      Judiciary Committee hearings early in the new year.  This is Daniel      Schorr.