Bush picks security aide with wiretap background

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BUSH PICKS SECURITY AIDE WITH WIRETAP BACKGROUND
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Randall Mikkelsen]
President George W. Bush named a Justice Department official with experience in terrorism wiretap programs as his White House homeland security adviser on Wednesday. President Bush chose Kenneth Wainstein, the department's first assistant attorney general for national security and a former FBI general counsel, to succeed Frances Townsend as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism. Townsend stepped down in November. Wainstein, in his Justice Department post, oversaw efforts to bring Bush's controversial warrantless domestic wiretapping program under the auspices of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Critics have charged the wiretap program launched by Bush after the September 11 attacks was illegal because it lacked court oversight. Wainstein has also helped lead the administration's effort to pass new surveillance legislation that would grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that took part in Bush's surveillance program.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1932456920080319


Bush picks security aide with wiretap background