Bush defends his internal spying program

In Washington, lawmakers are preparing for hearings into the domestic spying program, which Bush says does not involve widespread eavesdropping on Americans. ''This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America and, I repeat, limited," Bush said. ''I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy's thinking."

Four senators -- two of them Republicans -- indicated yesterday that congressional hearings were appropriate.

The hearings, they said, were to consider Bush's assertion that he had constitutional and congressional authority to authorize domestic wiretaps without a court order in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. ''In the first few weeks we made many concessions in the Congress because we were at war and we were under attack," said Senator Richard G. Lugar, an Indiana Republican and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

''We still have the possibility of that going on, so we don't want to obviate all of this. But I think we want to see what, in the course of time, really works best."

Last month, The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency had been conducting surveillance without warrants since 2002.

After that report, Bush acknowledged that he had authorized the NSA program. He said he had informed congressional leaders, and had given regular reviews, via administration officials as evidence of oversight for the program.

The Justice Department on Friday opened an investigation into the leak, which resulted in news stories about the secret order to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists.

''The fact that somebody leaked this program causes great harm to the United States," Bush said before he returned to Washington from a holiday break at his Texas ranch. ''There's an enemy out there," Bush added.

The president stressed that the surveillance had involved telephone calls from ''a few numbers" outside the United States by people associated with Al Qaeda. The White House clarified Bush's remarks, saying he meant to say calls going to and originating from the United States were being monitored.