MY NSA LTE

Court decision overlooked
Re: the Feb. 6 column "It's time Bush critics recall terrorist threat."

Paul Greenberg writes of a succession of court decisions that in his mind justify the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, but he has overlooked one that is clearly relevant to the issue of whether a National Security Agency shift supervisor can by himself permit taps:

"The freedoms of the Fourth Amendment cannot properly be guaranteed if domestic security suveillances are conducted solely within the discretion of the executive branch, without the detached judgment of a neutral magistrate." — United States v. United States District Court (1972).

Steven J.
Tucson