Bush calls for easier wiretap rules

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush called for Congress to revise a US security law in order to ease restrictions on the government's secret communications surveillance of terror suspects.

Amid furor over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's handling of the government's secret warrantless wiretap program, Bush urged legislators to pass the update of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) proposed in April.

The changes would ease intelligence collection aimed at people plotting attacks on the United States, Bush said in his weekly radio address.

"Today we face sophisticated terrorists who use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate with each other, recruit operatives, and plan attacks on our country," he said.

"Technologies like these were not available when FISA was passed nearly 30 years ago, and FISA has not kept up with new technological developments.

"As a result, our nation is hampered in its ability to gain the vital intelligence we need to keep the American people safe."

Bushed urged lawmakers to work in a bipartisan manner to pass the legislation before leaving for August recess, saying: "Our national security depends on it."

Bush made the plea as Gonzales became more mired this week in accusations that the government abused the law to monitor suspect electronic communications to and from the United States without first obtaining warrants from a special secret FISA court.

On Thursday members of Congress called for a perjury investigation of Gonzales for testimony he gave days earlier on the warrantless wiretaps, which were launched when Gonzales was White House Counsel.

The FISA reform proposed by the White House in April would loosen restrictions on tapping into emails, phone calls and other communications inside the country and possibly allow the US to freely tap into international communications routed through the United States.

It will also protect telecommunications companies who cooperate in the effort. Several major companies have been sued for helping with the wiretaps.

But Congress has resisted the reform while demanding more information on the government's electronic spying efforts since 2001, which the White House and Gonzales have insisted were legal, but others say broke the law.

This week Gonzales and FBI director Robert Mueller offered apparently contradictory testimony on a 2004 Justice Department dispute over the program's legality, sparking accusations that Gonzales lied to the legislators about the controversy.

Bush did not address the Gonzales controversy in his address, but on Friday White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "The president supports him and the president supports his performance."