Mission Creep

Okay, so maybe it's not just terrorism....

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says in testimony prepared for a Tuesday congressional hearing that a law passed last month expanding the U.S. government's eavesdropping power is needed to protect not just against terrorists but also against more traditional potential adversaries, such as those two Cold War foes.

This is he way it always goes. Special powers and laws are set for the dangerous new enemy. Then, once they're in place, the exemptions are continually broadened.

The Protect America Act allows the government to listen in, without a court order, on all communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one end of the conversation.

Such surveillance was generally prohibited under the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and it is one of the more controversial aspects of the new law.

(PS. Because Russia and China represent a far greater threat now than during the Cold War?)