There appears to be a major misconception in the framing of the "wiretapping" debate. It is not about proper warrants for a small number of Americans. It is Millions of Americans.
It hinges on the difference between a "wiretap" and data mining.
A wiretap is recording a call or calls made by or received by a suspect (however suspect is defined with or without warrant). The administration has been successful at framing the discussion in these terms. As such, people can debate whether such a person should be monitored.
However, data mining is a totally different endeavor. In this case, you cast an enormous digital "dragnet", with millions of victims looking for a needle in a haystack.
The administration didn't have an issue with FISAs time limits, it had an issue with the whole concept of having to pick people to spy on.
This is how we attack the issue. Poindexter's idea all along with TIA and every other incarnation is to simply collect every piece of data available then use computers to sort it for "signal" or patterns that suggest something.
The issue here is twofold:
- Most people with any experience in data mining or what is called business intelligence have long found that finding meaning after you collect the data is nearly fruitless. Without an idea you are testing for, you almost always have the wrong data, and masses of data rarely speak volumes.
- This requires the government to capture and store conversations on people who truly could not possibly be suspected of any misbehavior.
So stop talking about this as "wiretapping". It is not. It is massive, total surveillance without a target. The number one goal of the Democrats should not be to discover how the warrant process works, but simply to get one number - how many Americans have been recorded.
Judging by my knowledge from an IBM insider, it is not 32 people. It is millions.