Why Should Anyone Worry About Whose Communications Bush and Cheney
FindLaw
By JOHN W. DEAN
Friday, Feb. 24, 2006
Although the Bush Administration does not encourage public debate over decisions it has made regarding how to govern, more and more people are asking questions about the ways and means employed during this presidency.
In my last column, I addressed the seemingly irresolvable issue of the allocation of government powers - among the president, Congress and the federal courts - regarding matters of national security. Since then, the debate about the Bush Administration’s refusal to comply with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - and its parallel insistence on defending its warrantless wiretapping — has only continued.
Both Republicans and Democrats have raised questions about the administration’s defiance of the law in the name of fighting terrorism. One organization at the forefront of concern about this blatant lawbreaking is the ACLU - which recently convened a panel in Washington to discuss this subject. This broad-based dialogue, in which I participated, certainly added to my understanding. Not surprisingly, it raised issues that need further attention.
One, in particular, that has been gnawing at me, is the question why anyone should worry about the government listening in on conversations if they are doing nothing wrong. This is an old question that often arises in issues relating to privacy. Yet frankly, it still annoys me every time it is asked.
The Why-Should-I-Worry Question
The NSA surveillance program seeks to uncover persons in the United States who are conversing internationally and by telephone or email with known al Qaeda organization or operative abroad, or with affiliates of such organizations and operatives.
“I am not personally worried about the government listening to any of my conversations, for not only do I not know anyone even remotely connected with terrorism,” one questioner said to me after the panel, “But furthermore, I would be happy to give up my privacy,” she said, “if it helps to find terrorists.” This young lady wanted to know why others were so concerned about the government’s using the latest technology to find terrorists.
Let’s set aside the issue of whether the President can simply ignore the FISA law validly enacted by Congress - and signed by a prior president. I will return to that in another, later column, for it is an important question that is not going to go away. Here, I will look only at the issue of whether the average American has anything to truly be worried about, as NSA electronically sifts through endless digital exchanges to find the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack.
One Reason Americans Should Worry: Data Mining Makes Mistakes [more]