THEY SHOULD BE GRATEFUL HE'S AT LEAST USING A TROJAN:

Gonzales' Trojan Horse: FISA-approved surveillance may not be a civil-liberties coup (Patrick Radden Keefe, Jan. 19, 2007, Slate)

When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent a cryptic, four-paragraph letter to the Senate judiciary committee Wednesday, maintaining that from now on, the Bush administration will conduct its domestic surveillance program "subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court," it looked like the administration was backing down. "Bush Retreats," the Washington Post declared, adding that the letter marked the president's "latest step back from the expansive interpretation of executive power."

But civil libertarians and administration foes should keep the Champagne on ice for the moment, because while Gonzales' letter looks like a surrender, it may prove to be a Trojan horse. A close read of the administration's Delphic pronouncements on this about-face reveals a major, unresolved contradiction: The National Security Agency surveillance program and the FISA system, as it currently exists, are fundamentally incompatible. Any hasty reconciliation of the two will involve either a dramatic revision of our espionage activities or a very creative reading of the wiretapping statute. For this marriage to work, one of them must be compromised. The question is, which one?

Hint: the Administration isn't going to err on the side of bureaucratic niceties over national security.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 23, 2007 12:00 AM