United States President George W Bush has condemned those behind the leak of a secret National Security Agency Programme that spied on suspected terrorists within US and vigorously defended domestic spying saying it was needed to face the threat of enemies who wanted to kill Americans.
Speaking at a press conference hours after addressing Americans on prime time and asking for their patience over the goings-on in Iraq, Bush was confident that the Justice Department had already set in motion, a process to find out who was behind the leak.
"My personal opinion is that it was a shameful act for someone to disclose this very important programme in a time of war," he said, adding, "As President of the United States and commander-in-chief, I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country."
The President made it clear that he will continue to authorise the controversial programme 'so long as the nation faced the continuing threat of an enemy that wanted to kill American citizens.'
The President did not waste time or opportunity to call upon Congress to renew the Patriot Act, several critical portions of which, will lapse at the end of the year.
"In a war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment," he said.
The legislation has cleared the House but is being stalled in the Senate and the revelations of NSA's activities have not helped matters much.
Discussions of national security issues dominated the media event at the East Room of the White House with Bush stressing that it was 'shameful' for someone to disclose the NSA programme.
"The fact is that discussing this programme is like discussing the enemy," the President said.
He pointed out that only international calls originating in the United States and going overseas were monitored without a court order and that calls within the US would be monitored only after a order is granted by a secret court under the guidance of the Foreign Surveillance Act.