Posted by Bob on 7/30/2007, 5:37 am, in reply to "Re: Another and Bigger 9/11 Soon?" Unfortunately, we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. Technology is not designed around the Constitution. Once you have the capability to surveille, you also have the ability to conceal your activities from other surveillers, including the Congress. Jimmy Carter once famously answered a skeptical reporter's question (about growing government powers) with the words, "Trust me." I did not trust Carter, nor do I trust Bush, with the increasingly awesome powers of government. That's the rock. But the hard place is that terrorists are increasingly tech-savvy. They have the potential to carry out massive strikes against us. One scenario has them wreaking havoc on our air traffic control system. Evidence has it that the 9/11/01 attacks may have been planned to involve up to twenty airliners, and that the quick shutdown by the FAA prevented sixteen others from taking off. A future attack may be much more massive, and much more carefully coordinated. It may involve large numbers of dirty bombs, and EMP explosions that could burn out the entire national power grid. An aerial nuclear blast could kill millions. With so much at stake, can we afford to put our fingers in our ears while some judge dithers over whether we should be listening in to a phone call from Riyadh to Dubuque? And on the other hand, does anyone doubt that a future president Hillary might decide that she really knows herself what is best for us, whether we like it or not? Rock. Hard place. Our choices may already be Hobson.
72.243.26.154
I agree that FISA should be updated. I also have consistently warned that empowering the government to use surveillance against terrorists creates vast potential for abuse.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread