04 February 2009

Dept. of Unconscionable Mistakes:
The Case Against Warrantless Wiretapping, Part I

WE HAD THE raw intelligence. The NSA had intercepted satellite phone conversations. NSA analysts knew two Saudi nationals were participating in the planning of a terrorist attack had strong links to Osama bin Laden. Through gathering its own intelligence, the CIA knew the men were en route to LAX. And when United Airlines 002 touched down in Los Angeles in early 2000, the men disappeared.

21 months later, on September 11, 2001, the men, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, would be two of 19 men to perpetrate the deadliest terrorist attack in history.

The response of the U.S. government to 9/11 has been vast in scope. In addition to a military response and the detention of suspected terrorists, President Bush authorized the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP), a wiretapping program run by the NSA that bypassed the existing legal framework to permit surveillance of nearly any individual, including American citizens, without a warrant.

Over the past five months, I have been working on my Senior thesis for my B.A. in American Studies from Bard College. In the thesis, I contend that President Bush's authorization of TSP constituted an illegal action. First, authorization of such a program provides for the violation of the Fourth Amendment, making the program unconstitutional. While unconstitutional Presidential actions have been tolerated during times of great crisis in the past, the current threat posed by terrorism does not constitute such a crisis. Second, Congress, through its passage of FISA in the 1970s, specifically forbade such warrantless wiretapping.

Over the coming weeks, I will use this blog as a place to offer my thoughts on the project as I develop my thesis. Hopefully, while serving as a repository for my musings, it might also serve as a testing ground for my ideas. I welcome any and all comments in response to my posts.

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