The headline in the Times reads "Obama Seeks Balance in Plan for Spy Programs." And then, in the opening sentence, the indication that reporters see this as a moral cave. If so, they're right.
As he assembles a plan to overhaul the nation’s surveillance programs, President Obama is trying to navigate what advisers call a middle course that will satisfy protesting national security agencies while tamping down criticism by civil liberties advocates. ...NYT
"Satisfy agencies.... tamping down criticism...": the usual outcomes in a power struggle between the people and entrenched institutions. Among the Patriot Act's most outrageous weapons against civil liberties is the national security letter "compelling businesses, under a gag order, to turn over records about customer communications and financial transactions." Leading the attack on our rights is James Comey, the very DOJ figure who spoke up for decency during some of the worst actions of the Bush administration but who, as Obama's FBI director, is willing to defend entrenched government power over freedom.
“What worries me about their suggestion that we impose a judicial procedure on N.S.L.’s is that it would actually make it harder for us to do national security investigations than bank fraud investigations,” Mr. Comey said. He added, “I just don’t know why you would make it harder to get an N.S.L. than a grand jury subpoena,” calling the letters “a very important tool that is essential to the work we do.” ...NYT
NSL's are not special-case, infreqently used tools. They're used all the time. According to the New York Times report, "their use exploded over the past decade as they were expanded to terrorism investigations, with the agency now issuing tens of thousands a year since Congress lowered the legal standard."
For the most part, Republicans like Obama's approach to justifying the use of extraordinary, Orwellian tactics in "preserving freedom."
Liberals? Not so much. After all, these programs have little effect in keeping us safe.
Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and a critic of the surveillance programs, said he objected during the meeting to the assertion that the bulk records program thwarted attacks. He said he read aloud a sentence from Mr. Obama’s review group report declaring that information gleaned by the program “was not essential to preventing attacks and could readily have been obtained in a timely manner” using conventional means. ...NYT
