The American Thinker - NSA Leak Investigation

The American Thinker

Where is the media's call for an investigation of the leaks by those in government of the NSA surveillance?

Here's a common sense suggestion of how to get the truth...and the consequences. Alas, it will never happen, at least the New York Times will never ask for exposure of the leakers of classified information to them. My goodness, they must think they are above the law!

Here's another great observation from Powerline

The radiation surveillance case could be distinguished from Kyllo on a number of grounds, but let's cut to the bottom line; I can't improve on what Eugene Volokh wrote, somewhat presciently, in 2002:

Sure, normally the Fourth Amendment applies equally to all serious crimes, and that's normally right. But finding dirty bombs must simply be different from fighting normal crime. Searches for weapons of mass destruction can't be treated like searches for marijuana-growing devices or even for murder weapons.

The Fourth Amendment, by its terms, only bans "unreasonable searches and seizures"—and it cannot be unreasonable to examine homes with Geiger counters in order to prevent a city from being rendered uninhabitable by an enemy bombing. Protecting people's privacy is important, and so is constraining government power. But sometimes we need extraordinary government power to protect against extraordinary threat.

In my opinion, the idea that, in the context of the terrorist threat we currently face, the government can't use radiation-detecting devices in public places--there is no indication that federal agents broke into anyone's home with a Geiger counter--to look for nuclear weapons, is ludicrous.

"I'd like to hear from the Democrats on this one. Yesterday, Mrs. R. and I were watching a television news program, when someone pointed out that no leading Democrat has yet called on President Bush to terminate the NSA intercept program. I laughed out loud. Good point! Likewise with the radiation story: Do we have the Democrats' pledge that under a Democratic administration, the government would not use radiation-detecting equipment to search for dirty bombs? If so, that should make it a lot easier for millions of Americans to cast their votes in the 2008 election.