Six years later, and all have figured out that America needs protecting, but many still haven't learned why America needs protecting.
My thoughts are here.
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News items off the cutting room floor of Tracy Press editor Jon Mendelson.
About the author
- Jon Mendelson
- is the editor for the Tracy Press, an award-winning newspaper columnist and has been a staple of the Voice section since February 2006. This is his space for random thoughts, cheap shots, and bon mots.
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1 comment:
There is an interesting question embedded in your commentary (and apologies for not directly responding to it...work distracts, alas): has individual liberty been compromised post 9/11? I think there is a natural dialectic at work in authorization (hopefully with sunset clauses), analysis, and discovery by the press as a consequence of the concerns of the involved.
That dialectic means the system is working to my mind, although I have a vested interest in some of this so my opinion should be suspect.
Over the years, programs like Echelon have been under scrutiny for allowing end-runs around FISA by using allied analysts that are not subject to US laws (and vice-versa). So it goes. I would prefer, though, that FISA was expanded to minimally require record-keeping to a sufficient level that post hoc analysis would be possible to determine whether there were or were not abuses.
Sunset clauses and accountability makes it more palatable but not perfect. Is perfection possible?
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