It’s already been splashed over the news, but in case you missed it because you were sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting to see if there was a transit strike, or because you were outside hacking ice off the car (like I was this morning), it appears that Bush quietly authorized the NSA to wiretap some folks in-country when making international calls.
President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States, despite previous legal prohibitions against such domestic spying, sources with knowledge of the program said last night.
The super-secretive NSA, which has generally been barred from domestic spying except in narrow circumstances involving foreign nationals, has monitored the e-mail, telephone calls and other communications of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of people under the program, the New York Times disclosed last night.[...]
Congressional sources familiar with limited aspects of the program would not discuss any classified details but made it clear there were serious questions about the legality of the NSA actions. The sources, who demanded anonymity, said there were conditions under which it would be possible to gather and retain information on Americans if the surveillance were part of an investigation into foreign intelligence.
Repeat after me — it’s not nice to flaunt the law. If there’s a need to give security officials new tools to do their jobs, that’s OK…. just do it within the law, or make a new law (the Patriot Act could have handled a few more provisions…) to permit it. Heck, I don’t think too many people would have minded if the law was bent on 9/12 or 9/13, as long as it was short-term enough to permit Congress or the courts time to react.
However, willfully skirting the law is not the sort of thing an American president is supposed to do.
P.S., regarding the claims that a judicial sign-off takes too long to get…well, I am reminded of a statement made in a recent abortion case, regarding exceptions to parental notificiation requirements — “How difficult is it to make a 30-second telephone call to a judge?”
1 response so far ↓
1 Mike The Actuary’s Musings » More on warrantless wiretapping // 17 Dec 2005 at 11:26 am
[...] It sounds like my earlier observation on the story — that if there’s a need for such tools, pass a law to permit it — may be moot. It sounds like there is already flexibility within the law to go forward with snooping without judicial blessing in the event of an emergency, provided that such a blessing is sought very shortly after monitoring begins. [...]