The Politics of Eavesdropping

The new Senate bill would require electronic eavesdropping procedures to be approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. That was enough to win the measure the support of all but two Democrats on the Intelligence Committee. But the key stumbling block as the bill moves forward is its provision that provides blanket immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the surveillance program in the past and turned over personal data on customers to the National Security Agency without a court order. If signed into law, the bill would effectively derail more than 40 lawsuits filed against major telecom companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, for allegedly violating their customers' privacy.

Even though the bill has passed the Senate Intelligence Committee, House leaders and other powerful senators have balked at the immunity provision. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy—whose panel must also approve the measure--first wants the White House to let his committee see key documents, including Justice Department legal opinions relating to the surveillance program. (So far, the White House has only allowed the Senate Intelligence Committee to view the documents, after the panel made clear it was sympathetic to the telecom companies' pleas.)

As Democrats squabble, the administration and top Republicans are moving to exploit the issue. They accuse Democrats of sacrificing national security for short-term political gain. "Al Qaeda is not going to give us a break just because we're having an election," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, who demanded last week that Dodd donate to charity any campaign money he raised as a result of his filibuster threat.

The White House also attacked Democrats for political maneuvering and reiterated its call for protection for the telecommunication companies. "This issue is too important to play politics with," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told NEWSWEEK. "Private firms that answered their nation's call for help in the days after the 9/11 attacks should be applauded and not used as campaign props."

But Dodd, in a telephone interview Wednesday between campaign stops, rejected the idea that he was being driven by politics on the issue—even as he took a veiled swipe at Senator Clinton for her failure to stake out a more aggressive position. "If you want to lead, and you're not willing to take a stand on something as fundamental as this, it raises questions in people's minds," Dodd said.

Dodd said his anti-telecom-immunity position has "provoked a firestorm" and is increasingly resonating with Democratic voters. (Or so he hopes; Dodd has been lagging in the polls). "There is an underlying disappointment—to use a mild word—with what people perceive to be a failure by the Democrats to understand the mandate from the last election," he said.