Bill FristBehold the intelligence of the man who wants to be your next President. Today on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Senator Bill Frist confirmed the existence of the NSA phone records collection program first revealed by USA Today. The following is the transcript of Frist’s exchange with Wolf Blitzer on CNN:

BLITZER: Let’s talk about the surveillance programs here in the United States since 9/11. USA Today reported a bombshell this week. Let me read to you from the article on Thursday.

"The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans, most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans."

Are you comfortable with this program?

FRIST: Absolutely. Absolutely. I am one of the people who are briefed…

BLITZER: You’ve known about this for years.

FRIST: I’ve known about the program. I am absolutely convinced that you, your family, our families are safer because of this particular program.

I absolutely know that it is legal. The program itself is anonymous, in the sense that identifiers, in terms of protecting your privacy, are stripped off. And, as you know, the program is voluntary, the participants in that program.

And it comes to the reality — it faces the reality that we’re in the 21st century. And the only way to connect the dots, whether around the world or in this country, to prevent another 9/11, whether it’s in the Pentagon or in New York or back in Nashville, Tennessee, is to connect those dots. And the only way to connect those dots is to use 21st-century technology that protects your privacy, and that’s exactly what this does.

BLITZER: Can you tell the American people right now that over these past almost five years since the phone records have been collected — I’m not talking about the warrantless surveillance, the warrantless wiretaps — the phone records, that has resulted in thwarting one terrorist attack in the United States?

FRIST: You know, I am not going to comment on the program until the appropriate time. There has not been even a confirmation of the USA Today program itself. I…

BLITZER: But have you been briefed on one success story?

FRIST: I can tell you I’ve been briefed in a classified way, and I can tell you that I am absolutely, 100 percent sure, confident that this has protected and saved lives in the United States of America.

BLITZER: But has there been one success story that you can point to?

FRIST: I just don’t want to be pulled in…

BLITZER: Without specifics, just tell us that there has been a terrorist attack that was plotted and, as a result of collecting these phone calls, was thwarted.

FRIST: You know, in appropriate hearings and settings, this will come out. But this is classified information about a classified program. You know, the more we talk about these programs, the more we’re giving our playbook to the terrorists who are sitting out around this country right now, who did plan 9/11 and what happened at the Pentagon today. And they are in this country now. They are waiting. And the more we talk about these programs, we’re giving them the playbook, and that empowers them to be able to have an attack on this country. And it’s just not the right thing to do. [Emphasis added by me.]

I think the Department of Justice should crack down on leakers of classified information before they further help the terrorists. DOJ should start by asking Senator Frist about why he divulged the existence of a classified NSA program on national television. Apparently it is ok to divulge the existence of the classified program but it is not ok to mention if even one terrorist has been caught as a result of the program.

Senator Frist is the first Government official to publicly confirm the existence of the NSA spying program. Unless he has been authorized to declassify this information, he is likely in violation of a number of laws aimed at protecting classified information. Clearly Senator Frist cannot be trusted to keep our nation’s secrets protected. Perhaps his security clearance should be revoked.

As the Administration continues its witch hunt to silence leakers of classified information, it needs to look hard at the Senate Majority Leader’s loose lips. Senator Frist, don’t you know the terrorists are watching?