Warrantless COMINT

A hue and cry is being raised throughout the land over the recent disclosure by the New York Times about President Bush authorizing interception of communications between the U.S. and overseas. Michelle Malkin has most of the pertinent information; some people are claiming that this warrants impeachment. While it's understandable that people will debate whether this is right or wrong, people who are claiming that President Bush was operating with a reckless disregard for the law are just plain wrong, IMHO.

As President Bush himself pointed out today, the required people in Congress were informed about the program. If I remember right, for this type of "black" program, at a minimum the Intelligence committee chairman and vice chairman of both the House and the Senate (this would make a total of two Republicans and two Democrats for those keeping score) are briefed. If these people don't like the program, they have the power to do what needs to be done to stop it, if they're so inclined. Additionally, the Justice Department provides continuing legal reviews of programs of this type. This isn't Watergate -- it looks like all the hoops were jumped through to get this program up and running. And remember -- this isn't spying on people arranging trysts with their neighbor; it was overseas communications with people who were strongly suspected of associating with Al Qaeda. Sure, it has the potential for abuse, but from what I've heard so far, they tried to keep it as closely controlled as possible.

I just hope that people don't go off and start complaining about us intercepting communications overseas... that could put a lot of people I know out of business.