WASHINGTON - China and Russia are spying on the U.S. nearly as much as they did during the Cold War.
That's the word from national intelligence director, Mike McConnell, in testimony prepared for a House Judiciary Committee hearing today.
He is promoting a law passed last month expanding the U.S. government's eavesdropping power. He says it's needed to protect against not only terrorists but more traditional potential
adversaries as well.
The new Protect America Act allows the government to listen in, without a court order, on all communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the U.S., even if an American is on one end of the conversation.
Some lawmakers are having second thoughts after hastily passing the law before the August recess. Civil liberty groups and privacy advocates are staunchly against it.
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