Gen. Michael Hayden faced tough, bipartisan grilling Thursday from a Senate panel weighing his nomination to head the CIA. The four-star general repeatedly defended the legality of two controversial surveillance programs begun at the NSA during his six years at the helm of the top-secret intelligence agency.
One program, which was disclosed in December 2005, involves eavesdropping without warrants on international phone calls and e-mails believed to involve terrorism suspects. A second program reportedly tracks millions of phone calls made and received by Americans not suspected of terrorist ties.
Hayden did not confirm reports of this second program during Thursday's Intelligence Committee hearings, but he did say that the NSA used a "probable cause" standard when conducting surveillance, which made it unlikely that information about average Americans would be scrutinized.
Listen to Audio Highlights from Thursday's Hearing
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