EDITORIAL – Three-way with Gov’t not OK

President Bush won’t confirm or deny listening when you’re talking to your grandmother on… President Bush won’t confirm or deny listening when you’re talking to your grandmother on the phone. He won’t confirm or deny listening to you place an order for a pizza or make a bank transaction, either. So what exactly is the government listening to? They won’t confirm or deny anything.

It’s vague statements that have brought the Bush administration under fire — yet again — for matters of national security. And their response to criticism? Well, they’re not confirming or denying anything.

Yesterday President Bush insisted that the government isn’t focusing its surveillance efforts on regular Americans making domestic calls.

“We do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval,” Bush said.

Whew — what a relief. But what are they listening to, then?

This is where the details get a little fuzzy. USA Today published a story last week reporting that the government was collecting domestic phone records. While the government denies collecting phone records, this is just another issue to heat up the debate on domestic surveillance.

Last year, a National Security Agency program developed to eavesdrop within the United States was uncovered. The program was created by Gen. Michael Hayden, who has been nominated to be the new CIA director.

So how unfocused and clueless is our government when it comes to protecting us? Well, no one really knows.

The president’s new press secretary, Tony Snow, said that revealing every nuance of national security is foolish because it gives terrorists a means to succeed. OK, that makes sense. But when our privacy and rights may be compromised, it’s time to open up and tell us what’s going on.

Terrorists will probably find a way to work around surveillance in the United States and then we’ll have to come up with another plan to thwart their efforts. In the meantime, the government is cultivating hostility with its people, who are confused and skeptical about what’s going on.

Is the government acting lawfully? Sure, maybe. They say they are. But who’s to know? It seems that the Bush administration is trying anything at this point to come up with a victory for their war on terror.

If the government is listening in on our calls, not just international calls, they need to be forthcoming. That’s a given. But the larger issue is the government’s apparent inability to work in the right direction, to make real progress to affirm our security. Knowing what time someone is picking their elderly relative up from the podiatrist is a waste of time and resources and, oh yeah, ignoring rights to privacy.

Legitimate leads and evidence entitle the government to a warrant, and that’s OK by us. We don’t have to know everything the government is doing, we just want to be sure of what they’re not doing.