Senate Panel Decides Against Eavesdropping

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 ?- The Senate Intelligence Committee decided today not to investigate President Bush's domestic surveillance program, at least for the time being.

Text: Patriot Act (pdf) "I believe that such an investigation is currently unwarranted and would be detrimental to this highly classified program," Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas and chairman of the panel, said this afternoon following a closed session.

While Mr. Roberts's announcement signaled that the administration's eavesdropping program would not be subject to Senate scrutiny, at least for the time being, there was no guarantee that the House would not go ahead with an inquiry of its own.

Mr. Roberts said "an agreement in principle" had been reached with the administration whereby lawmakers would be given more information on the surveillance operation run by the National Security Agency.