« Surveillance is a slippery slope | Main | The case of the missing blacklists » Surveillance: the slope is ever more slipperyFrom CNN: Gen. Michael Hayden told his Senate confirmation hearing that the controversial National Security Agency wiretapping program he helped institute would have caught two 9/11 hijackers in San Diego, California, before they carried out their mission.This is lazy theory. In fact we know that the FBI and others had enough information, but failed to act. It's impossible to say whether wiretaps would have made a difference, just as it's hard to say whether wiretaps will be abused. Classified surveillance programs must be deployed only with great caution and sensitive oversight to prevent abuse. The Bush administration has demonstrated neither caution nor sensitivity in its pursuit of an endless "war on terror" that might ultimately be used to justify practically anything. And we have many examples in our own history, and in the recent history of countries like Germany and the Soviet Union, that suggest surveillance is readily deployed by those who would gather and abuse power. jon posted this at 4:33 PM |
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