Fergie's Tech Blog

Why The White House Ignores The Rules: Because We Can

Daniel Klaidman writes in Newsweek:

To many people, the most perplexing aspect of the Bush administration’s domestic spying program is that it was largely unnecessary. President George Bush could have simply invoked the emergency provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which would have allowed the government to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists 72 hours before receiving authorization from the FISA court. Alternatively, the White House could have gone to Congress to amend the FISA statute.

So why did the White House take such a controversial step, one that would inevitably open it up to serious charges of violating the civil liberties of American citizens? The answer may be as simple as this: a zealous belief that it could, regardless of whether doing so was necessary.

posted by Fergie @ 1/06/2006 01:02:00 PM