Reply #2: and from the Boston Globe [View All]

GLOBE EDITORIAL
The wiretap standoff
March 9, 2006

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But the NSA is not tapping the calls of terrorism suspects with an eye toward bringing them into court. It is seeking information that could help prevent terrorist attacks. No judge is looking over the taps and determining whether they pass muster under the 1978 law. The possibility that the government is breaking the law has caused unease in Congress.

The administration grasps onto a thin legal reed to justify the warrantless tapping: the Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed on Sept. 14, 2001. Since the administration started using that vote as justification for setting aside the 1978 law, no member of Congress has said he or she had that in mind in passing the authorization.

With both chambers under Republican control, Congress has not been nearly aggressive enough in scrutinizing the legality of the warrantless taps or in finding out what other surveillance liberties the administration is taking. Public forums like the one attended Saturday in Wayland by Democratic Representative Martin Meehan can help build support for Congress to show more backbone.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has taken another tack, by seeking information about the wiretapping from the telecommunication companies that assist in it. They cannot be pleased at the prospect that they might be accessories to breaking the law. Congressmen who do not like to see laws they passed ignored by the executive branch should be investigators, not enablers.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/03/09/the_wiretap_standoff/