Letters to the Editor
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Let's Focus on Concrete Issues to get Bipartisan Consensus
I believe the constitutional issues being discussed around warrantless spying are too abstract to generate concern and immediate action. They are important, but at this time, we should focus on concrete examples to really grab everyone's attention. Let me start with two examples:
1) Does warrantless spying permit the spying agency to listen in on conversations between military personnel and their family to find out who are saying negative things about the situation in Irag? Might not these soldiers or officers who communicate unfavorable accounts possibly be punished by being placed in more dangerous or difficult assignments? Can we allow this to happen?
2) Can the government listen in on the conversation of journalists with their sources even when they have no grounds to suspect any terrorist on the other side of the line? Would the administration not be tempted to harass sources that are giving an unfavorable account of the war? If we allow this to happen, are we not allowing the government to censor legitimate news accounts?
Getting some legislation to compel the administration to submit the names of the people being wiretapped into an official secret record and submitted to an oversight panel of judges, but subject to audit at their discretion, will not take too much time, and is the type of bipartisan action that can result from speaking in concrete terms. It will leave the larger issues still unanswered, but it will address real and immediate concerns.