WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Federal agents found much of the information produced by the Bush administration 's top-secret warrantless surveillance program vague and difficult to use , a sweeping review of the program found . Former President Bush claims his administration 's surveillance program helped to ward off terrorist attacks . Then-President George Bush and other top administration officials have said the program was a critical tool in preventing terrorist attacks . However , a report Friday by the inspectors general of the CIA , the Justice Department , the Pentagon and other agencies found that some FBI and CIA agents were frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the program . Former CIA chiefs Michael Hayden and Porter Goss told investigators the wiretaps filled a gap in U.S. intelligence . One senior official quoted in the report called the wiretaps , dubbed the `` President 's Surveillance Program '' by the report , `` a key resource , '' while the FBI considered it `` one tool of many '' in their efforts to head off terrorist plots , the report states . `` Even though most PSP leads were determined not to have any connection to terrorism , many of the FBI witnesses believed the mere possibility of the leads producing useful information made investigating the leads worthwhile , '' the report states . The program was hugely controversial when Bush acknowledged its existence in 2005 . Critics said the program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act , a 1978 law passed to rein in the wiretapping abuses of the Watergate era . Bush 's approval allowed the National Security Agency to intercept communications between people in the United States and overseas who were suspected of having ties to terrorists without getting a court order . He and other officials said the program `` prevented attacks and saved lives , '' as Vice President Dick Cheney put it in a May speech critical of their successors in the Obama administration . But Friday 's report found that the intelligence gathered was only a small part of counterterrorism work , and most intelligence officials interviewed for the report had trouble `` citing specific instances where PSP reporting had directly contributed to counterterrorism successes . '' In addition , the CIA `` did not implement procedures to assess the usefulness of the product of the PSP , and did not routinely document whether particular PSP reporting had contributed to successful counterterrorism operations , '' the report states . At another point , it noted that some FBI agents `` criticized the PSP-derived information they received for providing insufficient details , and the agents who managed counterterrorism programs at the FBI field offices the DOJ IG visited said the FBI 's process for disseminating PSP-derived information failed to adequately prioritize the information for investigation . Meanwhile , CIA officers were unable to make `` full use '' of the data because too few people had been briefed on the closely held program . `` According to one CIA manager , the tight control over access to the PSP prevented some officers who could have made effective use of the program reporting from being read in , '' the report states . The report also confirmed that the PSP was not limited to the electronic intercepts , referring repeatedly to `` other intelligence activities '' that remain classified . The report concluded the program was built on a `` factually flawed '' legal analysis inappropriately provided by a single Justice Department official , John Yoo , in 2001 . Yoo did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment , and he was not interviewed for the report . A 2004 review by the Justice Department triggered a dramatic confrontation in 2004 between White House and Justice officials who concluded the program would not pass legal muster . Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey , who took part in that face-off , told investigators that the program 's original authorization `` involved ignoring an act of Congress , and doing so without full congressional notification . '' That line drew the ire of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , who issued a statement Friday declaring that `` no president should be able to operate outside the law . '' `` The House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees will closely examine the findings and recommendations of the classified and unclassified reports , and will conduct appropriate oversight of electronic surveillance activities , '' the California Democrat said . Sen. Russ Feingold , a Wisconsin Democrat who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee , said the report `` highlights just how outrageous and damaging the illegal warrantless wiretapping program really was . '' `` This report leaves no doubt that the warrantless wiretapping program was blatantly illegal and an unconstitutional assertion of executive power , '' Feingold said . `` I once again call on the Obama administration and its Justice Department to withdraw the flawed legal memoranda that justified the program and that remain in effect today . ''
Audit : Info from Bush 's surveillance program found to be vague . Program allowed for top-secret , warrantless wiretaps . Bush , other former administration officials have touted program 's success . Review concluded program was built on `` factually flawed '' legal analysis .