From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The War Against Terror and Civil Rights.

Hello again, I'm Mormon Olney, and this is To the Point.

From Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

President Bush still wants Congress to approve his program of wiretaps without court warrants.

Democrats say, wait till next year. Everybody agrees it's essential to monitor communications between terrorist suspects.

The question is, how much oversight is required to prevent abuse.

On to the point, we'll look at surveillance in Britain, where the intelligence service has stunned

the public with revelations about ongoing terrorist plots.

How serious is the threat in this country?

Are U.S. intelligence agents hampered by too many rules?

On reporter's notebook later on Al Jazeera in

English. First, here's the news. Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from

the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Britain's highest intelligence officer has

gone public with details of extensive surveillance of terrorist plots. President Bush wants

Congress to approve his program for wiretaps without warrants. On To the Point, how serious

is the threat in this country? Do U.S. agents need the freedom their British counterparts have?

What about civil rights?

On reporter's notebook, one of the world's most controversial news outlets will now be in English.

We'll hear the latest on Al Jazeera.

First, this news update for the first time since Donald Rumsfeld's resignation as Secretary of Defense,

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