Congress can’t give telcos retroactive immunity without understan...

should give Congress authorization documents it has subpoenaed, he said. In testimony, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell agreed that “oversight is a good thing,” but said he can’t force the administration to hand over documents. “You're asking me if I can solve it,” he said. “I cannot.” McConnell said he has never refused to provide the committee anything it sought and has made “recommendations” to the administration about the “need to provide insight.” That’s not enough, said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). If McConnell is serious about getting retroactive immunity for telcos, he should make it “more clear” to the president and DOJ that the committee needs the authorization papers, he said. In his testimony McConnell largely repeated his remarks last week to House hearings. He is “happy” to review proposed Protect America Act revisions with Congress and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, McConnell said, noting criticism of a phrase allowing warrantless targeting of communications “concerning” someone outside the U.S. “If ‘concerning’ is the wrong word, let’s get to the right word,” he said. McConnell stressed that any FISA update should require warrants for surveillance inside the U.S. Citizens and noncitizens in the U.S. have court protection against warrantless wiretapping, he said.