Senate Plans No Hearings On Domestic Surveillance

CNN reports that the Senate will not conduct hearings probing into the Executive Branch's domestic wiretapping program.

Committee chairman Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) said that "An investigation at this point . . . would be detrimental to this highly classified program and our efforts to reach some accommodation with the administration."

No committee vote was taken as to whether an investigation should be pursued.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) said "It is ... more than apparent to me that the White House has applied heavy pressure in recent days and recent weeks to prevent the committee from doing its job" (see here for me information).

Rockefeller further argued that "The very independence of this committee is called into question as we are continually prevented from having a full accounting of prewar intelligence on Iraq; the CIA's detention, interrogation and rendition program; and now, the NSA's warrantless surveillance and eavesdropping program."