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Tuesday, December 27, 2005
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OUR OPINION: WIRETAPS Secret court should be sufficient
While U.S. citizens expect the Bush administration to aggressively pursue the war on terrorism, critics contend it crossed the line when it wiretapped suspected terrorists without any court approval. The Bush administration confirmed published reports that it has conducted wiretaps of people with known terrorist ties when at least one party is outside of the U.S.
Since 1978 a process has been in place which allows the executive branch to quickly proceed on wiretaps when national security is deemed to be at stake. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court is a secret court. This system has worked for the four presidents who preceded the current chief executive and we've not heard a credible explanation about why it wouldn't work in today's fight against terrorists.
The FISA court allows retroactive wiretapping, meaning that in an emergency an administration official can immediately begin wire taps and continue for 72 hours before seeking a warrant from the secret court.
Unless the president can present concrete reasons why the current system doesn't work, he should discontinue the unauthorized National Security Agency wiretapping. Unbridled executive power, yielded without any checks or balances, usually results in trouble for any presidential administration. The FISA court provides a degree of accountability which could very well prevent a well-meaning administration from making mistakes that could hurt their own cause.
If the FISA court isn't sufficient when it comes to expeditiously authorizing wiretaps that are necessary for national security the administration needs to spell out the system's shortcomings.
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