Mr. Bush is appealing Congress to expand the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to include technological developments in the last 30 years.

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

Democratic leaders in Congress acknowledge that improvements in telecommunications technologies require the FISA to updated in some respects, but remain extremely skeptical of expanding the government’s surveillance powers any further than they’ve already been stretched since 9/11.

Boarder