A Most Dangerous Game

When the clock struck midnight on the evening of Saturday, February 16, American intelligence services were for all practical purposes shorn of their ability to monitor the communications of newly discovered terrorists and spies operating outside the United States. House Democrats had simply not found time to consider straightforward legislation-a bipartisan bill that had passed the Democratcontrolled Senate by a 2-1 margin-that would have given our intelligence agencies the ability to continue monitoring communications among terrorists.

Here are the facts. Before February 17, U.S. intelligence agencies operated without restriction when eavesdropping on foreigners who communicated with each other outside the United States. Persons who are neither Americans nor acting within U.S. borders do not have privacy protection under U.S. law. The NSA and CIA were thus able to monitor our enemies without being subject to the practical impossibility of justifying each instance of surveillance in the fashion specified by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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When the clock struck midnight on the evening of Saturday, February 16, American intelligence services were for all practical purposes shorn of their ability to monitor the communications of newly discovered terrorists and spies operating outside the United States. House Democrats had simply not found time to consider straightforward legislation-a bipartisan bill that had passed the Democratcontrolled Senate by a 2-1 margin-that would have given our intelligence agencies the ability to continue monitoring communications among terrorists.

Here are the facts. Before February 17, U.S. intelligence agencies operated without restriction when eavesdropping on foreigners who communicated with each other outside the United States. Persons who are neither Americans nor acting within U.S. borders do not have privacy protection under U.S. law. The NSA and CIA were thus able to monitor our enemies without being subject to the practical impossibility of justifying each instance of surveillance in the fashion specified by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.