The White House today rejected Democratic complaints about President George W. Bush's domestic eavesdropping program and prepared a high-profile campaign next week to defend it ahead of a Senate hearing.
Mr Bush will visit the National Security Agency on Wednesday as part of the effort. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the NSA, will make a speech at the National Press Club on Monday and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will speak on Tuesday.
Mr Bush is under fire over the highly classified eavesdropping program. It allows the government to bypass warrant requirements and monitor communications, such as e-mail and telephone calls, into and out of the United States by people believed linked to al Qaeda or related terrorist groups.
Democrats contend Mr Bush is overstepping his constitutional powers by approving domestic spying and some Republicans have expressed concerns about it as well.
"Let me be as clear as I can be: President Bush believes if al Qaeda is calling somebody in America, it is in our national security interests to know who they're calling and why," said Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser.
Speaking to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting, Mr Rove denounced Democrats for opposing the program with "wild and reckless and false charges" against Mr Bush and said they are living in a pre-Sept. 11 world.
"That doesn't make them unpatriotic, not at all," Mr Rove said. "But it does make them wrong, wrong deeply and profoundly and consistently."
As part of the stepped-up effort, several members of Congress attended a classified briefing at the White House, including California Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, a member of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.