Editorial: Same old spin on spying

Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.

In his relentless efforts to convince Americans that it is OK for the U.S. government to eavesdrop on their phone calls and e-mails without warrants, President Bush has reiterated that such monitoring is "necessary" and "designed to protect civil liberties."

"There's no doubt in my mind that it is legal," Bush said during a White House press conference Thursday. But plenty of doubt remains in the minds of many members of Congress and constitutional scholars, who take exception with Bush's assertion that he is above the law because the U.S. Constitution establishes him as commander in chief of the military.

Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bush gave the National Security Agency permission to start the surreptitious monitoring, giving the agency sole discretion on when to do it and bypassing the legal requirement that a warrant be sought.

In December The New York Times revealed the ongoing practice, bringing scrutiny from Congress and sharp criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Even federal Judge James Robertson resigned in protest from his post with the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court, the 11-member panel that reviews the government's requests for domestic eavesdropping and decides whether to issue the warrants.

In the event there is no time to request a warrant, the government may start surveillance and apply for the warrant later. The requests are rarely denied in either scenario.

And Bush still presses on without warrants. When asked Thursday whether he would support congressional efforts to more clearly define his authority to continue eavesdropping on domestic communications, the president said he would resist.

"My concern has always been that, in an attempt to try to pass a law on something that's already legal, we'll show the enemy what we're doing," Bush said.

However, this is an administration that doesn't want to show anyone what it's doing -- including the American citizens whose phone calls and e-mails the government may be monitoring without a warrant.

Despite the tired rhetoric Bush trotted out again on Thursday, gathering information in secret and without warrants does not protect Americans' civil liberties. It violates them.