A Stitch in Haste

From the President's press conference earlier this afternoon:

The second bill before Congress would modernize our electronic surveillance laws and provide additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program. I authorized the National Security Agency to operate this vital program in response to the 9/11 attacks. It allows us to quickly monitor terrorist communications between someone overseas and someone in the United States, and it's helped detect and prevent attacks on our country.

The principle behind this program is clear: when an al Qaeda operative is calling into the United States or out of the country, we need to know who they're calling, why they're calling, and what they're planning.

But Mr. President, how do you know — or suspect — that the person is a terrorist or an al Qaeda operative? Because you have probable cause to that effect? If so, then why not get a FISA warrant — retroactively if need be?

Given that the program entails spying on American citizens on American soil, is that too unpatriotic a question to ask? Does asking it make me a "civil liberties absolutist," as some of your defenders perpetually insist? Does merely asking the question mean that I am supporting the terrorists? With all due respect, Mr. President, I think not.

It's not the wiretapping. It's the warrantless, Mr. President.