The Poor Man hits it on the head. Go read the entire thing, but the final graph nails it:
There is NO WAY for this to be constitutional. The 4th amendment, contra Gen. Hayden, clearly specifies “probable cause”, and there simply is no way to meet that standard with this kind of program. Which would mean any attempt to legitimize the program would face significant legal hurdles. Better (to them) to just go ahead and do it and justify themselves post-facto. Better to apologize than ask permission, right?I know this kind of deconstruction can seem like techno-wanking, and a lot of smart people have made a pretty strong case that the technology is beside the point, but the fact that WPE and his designated flunky are trying so hard to obfuscate the technical issues seems, to me, like a pretty good clue that the technology is an important part of the story.
And, James at Outside the Beltway has some important points as well…
