Giving our intelligence agencies the tools they need to do a very difficult job is a good thing. Being able to quickly assess a possible threat and react accordingly is vital to our national security. Lack of independent oversight in the warrantless wiretapping is a giant hand in the face of the liberty that makes this the greatest nation in the history of the world.
The Bush administration plans to leave oversight of its expanded foreign eavesdropping program to the same government officials who supervise the surveillance activities and to the intelligence personnel who carry them out, senior government officials said yesterday.
The law, which permits intercepting Americans’ calls and e-mails without a warrant if the communications involve overseas transmission, gives Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales responsibility for creating the broad procedures determining whose telephone calls and e-mails are collected. It also gives McConnell and Gonzales the role of assessing compliance with those procedures. [source]
No checks and balances. No independent third party to keep them honest. What could possibly go wrong?
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