Bush said the publication of information about the antiterrorism program "does great harm to the United States" and "makes it harder to win the war on terror."
"Congress was briefed, and what we did was fully authorized under the law, and the disclosure of this program is disgraceful," Bush told reporters. "We are at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America."
Several media outlets last week published reports about the monitoring program, instituted shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
(AP, AFP)