Up Yours ACLU and Fourth Amendment, Too

A reader pointed out to me that I really needed to give a close listen to Dina Temple-Raston on Sunday's ATC. She's reporting on the ACLU's unmasking of the Department of Defense and FBI colluding to dismantle more of our dear old, 4th Amendment. The basic story is that the FBI can "legally" issue National Security Letters (NSLs) pretty fast and loose and this allows them to snoop on lots (and lots) of people without the bother of going through the courts. The Department of Defense (DOD) on the other hand doesn't have such easy access to our privacy...unless the FBI plays the lackey for DOD requests. It seems the ACLU has caught them doing just that. I know that given the overtly fascist nature of the current Bush administration behavior, the FBI can look pretty good (as in its agents reaction to Gitmo). But, Jeez, the FBI does have a not-so-pretty history of its own.

In this case Temple-Raston discredits herself as a reporter, and comes out fully in the corner of the FBI. Here's what she says:

"[the ACLU claims] that the Department of Defense actually used the FBI as a foil to actually get information that it shouldn't have been getting - personal information- on its employees. And we're checking into this, but it looks like what has actually happened is that - and certainly, this is what the FBI says happened - was that the FBI and the DOD were working together on joint investigations, and in connection to those joint investigations that is where the NSLs were actually issued. So it's unclear whether or not there really was an end run that DOD actually tried to get around the law or whether or not this was done on the up and up. It looks right now like it was all done on the up and up."

It's "up and and up" all right.