Warrantless Wiretaps

New York Times wrote Warrantless Wiretaps Not Used, Official Says "The National Security Agency has not conducted wiretapping without warrants on the telephones of any Americans since at least February, the nation’s top intelligence officer told Congress on Tuesday. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, told the House Judiciary Committee that since he took office that month, the government has conducted electronic surveillance only after seeking court-approved warrants."

So here's what I don't get. "In a rush just before the August recess, Congress passed a law, effective for only six months, that the administration had argued was needed because its ability to conduct effective surveillance was slipping. That measure allowed the government to eavesdrop, without court-approved warrants, on international communications between an American and someone overseas, as long as the foreigner is the target of the surveillance." And yet, McConnell said this should be made permanent. If we haven't used warrantless spying since February is it really needed or just convenient?

"He added that the N.S.A. was forced to reduce the volume of surveillance it was conducting. “What we did do was, as the numbers got smaller, we prioritized in a way that we kept the most important, the most threatening on coverage, and we worked very quickly to try to catch up,” he said. “And what we found is there’s so much volume that we’re falling further and further behind. But Mr. McConnell said that the bill passed in August ended the bottleneck, and that the N.S.A. was back up to speed about five days after that legislation was signed into law." I'm not sure I buy this. They fell deeper and deeper behind but caught up in just 5 days?

"Democratic leaders have now largely accepted the idea of warrantless surveillance of international calls as long as the target is foreign, but they have been arguing that a special court should play a stronger role in reviewing the surveillance after it has been conducted, to make certain that Americans are not being caught up in the program." Ugh.