MiamiHerald.com | 12/21/2005 | Graham shares details of his wiretap `briefing'

MiamiHerald.com | 12/21/2005 | Graham shares details of his wiretap `briefing': "BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham reiterated Tuesday that the Bush administration never briefed him, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, about a covert domestic wiretap program -- and suggested the possibility that it grew out of ``a creep of presidential authority.''

Rather, Graham recalled being summoned to a classified briefing by Vice President Dick Cheney in late 2001 or early 2002. He was informed about a presidential directive that let the National Security Agency eavesdrop on overseas calls that moved through U.S. communications lines -- not people speaking on the phone inside the United States."