President’s Surveillance Program: Lawful, Effective and Necessary

Conn Carroll / July 27, 2009

Former CIA director Michael Hayden defends the National Security Agency’s post-9/11 electronic surveillance program in today’s New York Times:

The program was crucial in addressing one of the most stinging criticisms of the 9/11 commission — the need to reduce the gap between foreign intelligence and domestic security. This was an especially difficult task, which helps explain both the program’s importance and its sensitivity. The program was lawful, effective and necessary.
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The report also suggested that there were counterterrorism successes associated with the program but that these could not be discussed in an unclassified venue. Although little commented on, the report also mentions (more…)