The lawyers argued that the NSA, through its warrantless wiretap program, had violated their attorney-client privilege.

That's all to the good, as long as the investigation is not intended to pre-empt any efforts by the new Democratic majority to conduct its own Congressional review of the wiretap program.

Mr. Cornyn was referring in part to Democratic complaints about the wiretap program.

What the fact that this unbelievably low bar was still stampeded under says about Bush's illegal warrantless wiretap program I leave as an exercise to the reader.

Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Congresswoman with NSA oversight authority, became the first Republican on an intelligence committee to call for a congressional investigation into Bush's warrantless wiretap program.

THE town almost missed the news late Wednesday afternoon when the White House announced President Bush was ending his warrantless wiretap program.

Take, for instance, the administration's agreement last week to submit the wiretap program to judicial review.

Kerrey criticized Hayden for his suggestion, after the Times exposé, that the N.S.A.'s wiretap program could have prevented the attacks of 9/11.

Hayden's public confirmation hearing last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee was unlike the tough-minded House and Senate investigations of three decades ago, and added little to what is known about the wiretap program.

The administration has assured the nation it had plenty of good reason, but there's no way for Congress to know, since it has been denied information on the details of the wiretap program.