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Response to a constituent asking his opinion on the wiretapping issue:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the National Security Agency's (NSA) monitoring of conversations connected to terrorist activity. I appreciate hearing from you. The President has publicly discussed certain activities of the NSA that he authorized in the weeks following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on our nation. As described by the President, the NSA intercepts certain international communications into and out of the United States of persons linked to terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda and its affiliated groups. The President has said that the purpose of the Presidential directive is to prevent another catastrophic attack on our country. As the 9/11 Commission pointed out, two of the terrorist hijackers who attacked the Pentagon, Nawaf al Hamzi and Khalid al Mihdhar, were communicating with other members of al Qaeda overseas while they were in the United States preparing for their deadly attack. Regrettably, we did not know this until it was too late. The President's actions attempt to address weaknesses in our early warning system, making it more likely that terrorists, like the 9/11 hijackers, will be identified and located in time to prevent another disaster. As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I am aware that Administration briefings of this type are limited to a very few, and that Congressional leaders from both parties were briefed on several occasions. The world changed on September 11, 2001, demonstrating that it is vitally important that the President of the United States must have the power and authority to act on information to protect the American people from future acts of terrorism by al-Qaeda and terrorists who target the United States. Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. As always, I appreciate hearing from you. In the meantime, if you would like to receive timely e-mail alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Saxby Chambliss United States Senate
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