Originally Posted by Lansky

Sure thats true. But taken in context (real threat of terrorism), more vigilant domestic intelligence activities are to be expected. Look at how much crap the intelligence services got for missing the 9/11 attacks. Now they get blamed for being too vigilant! It's a constant war of wits between terrorists and governments all around the world. The terrorists plot to attack - the governments plot to stop the attack. Under these circumstances, the rules simply cannot be absolute, since terrorists don't play by the rules. A certain amount of flex must be allowed to address the asymmetry of terrorism. It is a genuine surprise for me to hear Bush publicly admit to certain aspects of governmental oversite - extremely surprising in fact. Perhaps just a sign of the times.

More food for thought-