Just following up from this post the other day, it’s apparent that loose lips editorial policy of the media (Ny Times, Wapo, etc), along with that of Democrats like Durbin, Rockefeller, the neutering of our warrantless wiretapping and survellience methods may get us attacked again. As Newsweek reports:

“Six years after 9/11 , U.S. intel officials are complaining about the emergence of a major “gap” in their ability to secretly eavesdrop on suspected terrorist plotters. In a series of increasingly anxious pleas to Congress, intel “czar” Mike McConnell has argued that the nation’s spook community is “missing a significant portion of what we should be getting” from electronic eavesdropping on possible terror plots. Rep. Heather Wilson, a GOP member of the House intelligence community, told NEWSWEEK she has learned of “specific cases where U.S. lives have been put at risk” as a result. Intel agency spokespeople declined to elaborate.

The intel gap results partly from rapid changes in the technology carrying much of the world’s message traffic (principally telephone calls and e-mails). The National Security Agency is falling so far behind in upgrading its infrastructure to cope with the digital age that the agency has had problems with its electricity supply, forcing some offices to temporarily shut down. The gap is also partly a result of administration fumbling over legal authorization for eavesdropping by U.S. agencies.

The post-Watergate Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) required a warrant for eavesdropping on people in the U.S. But after 9/11, the administration asserted that warrants weren’t needed to surveil communications involving suspected terrorists even inside the U.S. The controversy over “warrantless wiretapping” made intel officials gun-shy about eavesdropping even on messages they would have regarded as fair game before 9/11.”

This of course just follows up from the WSJ editorial I cited in the previous post. As I said before these tools are essential and necessary if we are going to keep this country safe from those who would attack us again - and make no mistake they are planning that as we speak.

While for these reporters intel officials wouldn’t give specifics, I will tell you specifically that they are spooked and quite frankly afraid of consequences should someone comeback and claim that their so-called right to “privacy” has been violated.

Forget the fact that not one shred of evidence exist that this has ever happened, but nontheless because of the fact that people put politics in front of national security the increased threat is there.