Remember when the NY Times and Washington Post opined about the erosion of civil liberties because of “Domestic Spying”

…..NOT!

“WASHINGTON ‚Äî A White House privacy board has determined that two of the Bush administration’s surveillance programs ‚Äî electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking ‚Äî do not violate citizens’ civil liberties.

After operating mostly in secret for a year, the five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Board is preparing to release its first report to Congress next week.

The report finds that both the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program and the Treasury Department’s monitoring of international banking transactions have sufficient privacy protections, three board members told the Associated Press in telephone interviews.

Both programs have multiple layers of review before sensitive information is accessed, they said.

“We looked at the program, we visited NSA, and met with the top people all the way down to those doing the hands-on work,” said Carol Dinkins, a Houston lawyer and former Reagan administration assistant attorney general who chairs the board.

“The program is structured and implemented in a way that is properly protective and attentive to civil liberties,” she said.”