After the terrible atrocities of 9/11, presidential power intensified. A month after 9/11, Bush created a secret program to gather foreign intelligence. This was named the President’s Surveillance Program (PSP). It gave the National Security Agency permission to monitor communications going in or out of the country. Under Congress’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), this program would have to require FISC order. Instead, Bush claimed that the order was justified due to his constitutional authority as president of the United States. Bush’s program was exposed by the New York Times, and this was the only time Bush decided to publicly acknowledge his constitutional authority. He justified his actions by stating that he had the right
