Terrorist surveillance or eavesdropping

The LAT argues this morning that Bush must "come clean" about how much privacy Americans are sacrificing in the war on terror. The phrase itself suggests something nefarious has happened. The LAT and most liberals undoubtedly believe that's the case but so far no American has come forward to report that his or her private communications have been intercepted by NSA.

The LAT ignores that for the NSA terrorist surveillance program to be effective it must be secret. It should be obvious that if a terrorist knows his phone calls or e-mails are being intercepted by NSA that he will stop communicating in that way. It should be obvious that if what the NSA is doing is revealed to all Americans that it also will be revealed to terrorists.

A way must be found to continue the NSA's critical program -- the object of which is to protect Americans and America's allies -- without revealing the program's details. (Too much already has been revealed, thanks to the NYT.) The administration has revealed to the intelligence committees and Congressional leadership the details of the program. That should be sufficient.