"Not Since Nixon"

An important USA Today editorial:

After initially refusing to discuss whether he had authorized domestic spying without court approval, President Bush decided to come clean. He acknowledged over the weekend that such spying had taken place, much as it was described in Friday's New York Times. He argued that it was vital to thwart an enemy that knows no boundaries. (Related: Opposing view)
The question this disclosure raises is not why an administration would resort to extraordinary tactics during extraordinary times by engaging in domestic intelligence gathering. The deadly nature and sophistication of al-Qaeda provide compelling answers to that.

It is, rather, why an administration would skirt existing procedures for engaging in domestic intelligence gathering while showing such blatant disregard for the restraints on presidential power that the Founding Fathers imposed...

Not since the days when Richard Nixon was fighting the Cold War, the Vietnam War and a rising tide of domestic unrest has an administration felt so emboldened by circumstances to put itself above the law and expand its powers unilaterally. Then, as now, a decision to go around the law in the name of national security or preserving presidential prerogatives can quickly descend into widespread abuses...

The administration has also turned its wrath on a familiar target: the news media. In his Saturday radio address, Bush said the disclosure by The Times had provided information that terrorists could use to put Americans at further risk.

Because so much about this domestic spying episode is cloaked in secrecy, it is hard to fully evaluate this claim. (The Times said it had held off publishing its story for a year — an eternity in the competitive news business — to evaluate the national security implications.) Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that the issue of whether U.S. agents conduct their intelligence gathering with court warrants or without them would be of much interest to terrorists. They must surely assume that the U.S. government is aggressively trying to find them.

These terrorists are evil people. They do not care much for our democratic way of life. It would be a tragedy if we, and not they, undermined it.