OK to Spy on Kidnappers Took 9 Hours

WASHINGTON - Last spring, when insurgents apparently captured three American soldiers in Iraq, it took the U.S. government more than nine hours to begin surveillance on the kidnappers' electronic communications.

The bulk of that time was spent on internal legal deliberations by Bush administration lawyers and intelligence officials, according to a timeline from the office of the director of national intelligence.

The delay was a centerpiece of the Bush administration's argument to Congress in late July that the law requiring court orders to conduct electronic surveillance inside the United States was dangerously restrictive.

Congress subsequently approved an …