[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said Sunday that US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] may be the subject of a perjury investigation if he does not clear up concerns regarding the truthfulness of his testimony about warrantless wiretapping. Speaking on CBS News' Face the Nation program, Leahy gave Gonzales one week to resolve inconsistencies [transcript, PDF], saying:

he answered under oath at great length. I think a lot of us, Republicans and Democrats, were incredulous at some of the answers. I told him, frankly, I don't trust him. But, in fairness, I've given him this--the testimony. He has a week to correct it if he wants. I suggest he consult with a lawyer as he does it. If he doesn't correct it, then I think that there are so many errors in there that the pressure will be very, very heavy, whether it's a special prosecutor, special counsel efforts within the--within the Congress.

The irony is, though, the Department of Justice, which is supposed to be very impartial--it's supposed to be impartial law enforcement--is being shredded by his activities. And if you lose confidence in law enforcement, it hurts everybody all the way down to the cop on the beat. Frankly, at this point, the president ought to take a long look at this and ask does he want to go down in history with this attorney general as part of his historical record?

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address [transcript; recorded audio] that he wants to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive] to meet threats from terrorists who can now use cell phones and the Internet to communicate. Bush urged Congress to pass new legislation, saying:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- also known as FISA -- provides a critical legal foundation that allows our intelligence community to collect this information while protecting the civil liberties of Americans. But this important law was written in 1978, and it addressed the technologies of that era. This law is badly out of date -- and Congress must act to modernize it

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

To fix this problem, my Administration has proposed a bill that would modernize the FISA statute. This legislation is the product of months of discussion with members of both parties in the House and the Senate -- and it includes four key reforms: First, it brings FISA up to date with the changes in communications technology that have taken place over the past three decades. Second, it seeks to restore FISA to its original focus on protecting the privacy interests of people inside the United States, so we don't have to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located in foreign locations. Third, it allows the government to work more efficiently with private-sector entities like communications providers, whose help is essential. And fourth, it will streamline administrative processes so our intelligence community can gather foreign intelligence more quickly and more effectively, while protecting civil liberties.

Our intelligence community warns that under the current statute, we are missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be collecting to protect our country. Congress needs to act immediately to pass this bill, so that our national security professionals can close intelligence gaps and provide critical warning time for our country.