An FBI agent's notes stated that then-White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. and Pres. G. W. Bush called the hospital room, and that Ashcroft's wife had taken the call. Card would not sit for an interview with the IGs about his dramatic visit with then-White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to the hospital bedside of an ailing Ashcroft. Gonzales told the inspectors general that Bush instructed him to go to the hospital to obtain Ashcroft's signature on a document that would green-light continuation of the program. "Extraordinary and inappropriate" secrecy about a warrantless eavesdropping program undermined its effectiveness as a terrorism-fighting tool, government watchdogs have concluded in the first examination of one of the most contentious episodes of the Bush administration. WP NYT Reader, report

George J. Terwilliger III
The administration now disavows program.
."Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations," a 2003 footnote states, referring to a a secret Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001 to Alberto Gonzales titled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States." Justice advised that Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil did not apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism. The opinion, by John C. Woo, was disclosed in the footnote of a separate secret Justice memo, dated March 14, 2003, that discussed the legality of various interrogation techniques.
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Attorney General resigns
The departure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could unlock the Bush administration's legal closet, bringing new details tumbling into the open about issues including the treatment of terrorism suspects, warrantless surveillance of Americans, and the administration's definition of official secrets.

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