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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (7185)	12/17/2005 12:23:10 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541334

And the debate begins: From the President's address (this morning?): The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th helped address that problem in a way that is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities. The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad. The activities I authorized are reviewed approximately every 45 days. Each review is based on a fresh intelligence assessment of terrorist threats to the continuity of our government and the threat of catastrophic damage to our homeland. During each assessment, previous activities under the authorization are reviewed. The review includes approval by our nation's top legal officials, including the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups. The NSA's activities under this authorization are thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and NSA's top legal officials, including NSA's general counsel and inspector general. Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it. Intelligence officials involved in this activity also receive extensive training to ensure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.

To: Dale Baker who wrote (7185)	12/17/2005 12:24:51 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541334

Undermining a country during a time of war is often considered treason. I understand that. I have been fighting the t-word users hereabouts for years. And it's always possible that such true believers will abuse power. We've seen instances of imperial white houses doing that very thing, and the perps being treated as heroes by the t-word-using set. I am not oblivious. But I also recognize that we can't unduly tie the hands of those who fight for us against the bad guys. We must remember that it's not your library records or mine that are the prized get. So it seems reasonable to me that we (the country, not the thread) debate the appropriate balance. It's a different world than when the framers wrote the fourth amendment. In those days, co-conspirators could't be warned and incriminating records couldn't be zapped in the blink of an eye by traitors--real traitors, not the t-word type. In addition, there's the distinction between criminals and enemy combatants to consider. Methinks the fourth amendment was not written for enemy combatants.