Let’s go back to my World War II analogy for a second.
If we intercept a phone call from the German High Command to a Nazi spy in this country, is it Signals Intelligence, or is a law enforcement matter?
As I suggested above, the government has alittle more domestic surveillance leeway during wartime. Having said that, my copy of the Constitution does not contain an “invalid during wartime” clause so the government should pursue its wartime ends with minimum possible disruption of civil liberties.
Today, however, we are not in a state of war (government rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding). Domestic signals intelligence during peacetime constitutes a “search” by any reasonable standard; and blanket as opposed to targeted domestic signals intelligence gathering during peacetime is “unreasonable” with extreme prejudice in my book.
It matters not which agency of government is involved. Amendment IV does not contain a signals intelligence exception - a search is a search is a search. Any domestic peacetime search by any government agency not conducted in accordance with Amendment IV parameters (probable cause and a limited, detailed warrant) is at a bare minimum constitutionally suspect.
The problem is of course that this “secret program” most likely targets simple political enemies of this President and his Men, as well as the token terrorist.
It may as well be you or me.....unless you think it’s ok for the President to illegaly wiretap anyone he wants...Dems, you, me, anyone with a differing opinion....anyone that voices dissent, etc.
You’d think that Watergate would mean something to someone. Don’t get me wrong, the Dems are dirtbags too, but this “program” is just toooo much of a slap to our faces.
God help us if the Dems should gain the Whitehouse. Either they will use newly obtained evidence of Bush’s trangression on the People to hunt him and his henchmen down, or they will continue to use this “program” for arguably more egregious ends.