By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – U.S. Senator Kit Bond says the media need to stop talking about the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program.
The Missouri Republican is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
At a news conference in St. Louis Monday, he said further discussion of the program will render it ineffective.
"The sooner we stop talking about it, and we stop broadcasting it around the world, the more likely we are to pick up any vital communications," Bond said.
Bond also said the President has always had the constitutional authority to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance, even without warrants.
The program first came to light in a December New York Times article.
The paper reported that the Bush Administration had authorized the NSA to monitor suspected terrorist communications, even without warrants from a special intelligence court.