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President Bush signed into law on Sunday a temporary six month law that vastly expands domestic and international wiretapping, also asserting new power into the Administrative Branch of government.

“This more or less legalizes the N.S.A. program,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, who has studied the new legislation.

Previously, the government needed search warrants approved by a special intelligence court to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, e-mail messages and other electronic communications between individuals inside the United States and people overseas, if the government conducted the surveillance inside the United States.

Today, most international telephone conversations to and from the United States are conducted over fiber-optic cables, and the most efficient way for the government to eavesdrop on them is to latch on to giant telecommunications switches located in the United States.

By changing the legal definition of what is considered “electronic surveillance,” the new law allows the government to eavesdrop on those conversations without warrants — latching on to those giant switches — as long as the target of the government’s surveillance is “reasonably believed” to be overseas.

The new temporary law (Which I feel will eventually made permanent) gives the attorney general and the director of national intelligence the ability to approve wiretaps instead of getting permissions form a secret court. The court now will only review procedures after the wiretapping occurs, thats if it is not top secret.

Anyone else getting a little worried here?

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