NSA's Bits and Bytes of Counter-terrorism

In light of the ruling by Judge Diggs Taylor, our courts need to tear themselves away from the anti-American activism of the 1960’s mind-set and move into the 21st Century. The war in Vietnam was thousands of miles away. Our youth were protesting in campuses to bring our soldiers home. We had the shootings of students at Kent State. We had our civil rights movement and the burning of Watts. We had the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. Later we had the SLA and the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. We had the murder of Bobby Kennedy. We had tough times. What we didn’t have or didn’t know about were terrorist cells working inside of the United States and on foreign soil, plotting to bring about acts of guerrilla warfare, i.e., blowing up airliners, subways, trains, et al, against innocent civilians. They can’t take on our military installations so they target moms and dads on the subway. The terrorists have changed the rules of war. No armed, uniformed military. No specific, identified nation for whom they fight directly. No tight cohesive paramilitary units roaming our streets. In other words, they have made themselves invisible known only by the few behavioral and identifiable characteristics or commonalities they seem to share. So, we seem to be fighting a reflexive war with our hands tied. During our revolution, the target was clear. The troops coming to quell our insurgency against the Crown wore RED. We couldn’t miss them. Also, we were mostly British citizens at the time fighting British citizens (not counting the Hessians). We had similar backgrounds, similar values, and generally the same religious beliefs. Analogously perhaps, the enemy works in shadows and while he may have a great job by day, he holds a totally different worldview; one that does not allow for peaceful accommodation. Today, looks like the Brits, the Pakistanis, and the NSA have good guerrilla warriors of their own. The new undercover operatives on America’s side are the bits and bytes (forgive my out-of-date terminology) of counter-terrorism. The Court really needs to understand that the rules of warfare have changed and have moved into more subtle methodology. Also, the criminal court is simply not qualified to deal with terrorists or terrorist surveillance programs. Terrorists are not the average bank-robbing American criminal. By way of example, in nuclear power stations all procedures are not equal. Some procedures like operating procedures are designed to guide operators through the steps of aligning systems, and such. Emergency Operating Procedures [EOPs] are very few and their function is totally different. They are for use in emergencies to mitigate accidents before they occur, not for normal operations. So it is with the criminal court system. It is designed to handle what could be called normal crime: homicides, robberies, etc. Terrorists do not belong in criminal courts. They belong in military tribunals. See FDR for recent reference. For that matter, our little bits and bytes would fair better in military courts as well since they are warriors. And the judges would know the battlefield. The NSA surveillance counter-terrorism program is rather like having agents in the field. The little bits and bytes are everywhere. With some of the news media working to subvert our efforts at national security, the little bits and bytes are now being hauled off to court. Mercy! Having the sophistication to intercept calls and e-mail from outside of the US intended for terrorist operatives within the US and being told by a District Judge that we can’t use the best tool at our disposal leaves the thinking American shaking his/her head. These folks get to “heaven” by killing us, which eliminates the need to try to convert us. We cannot and will never be able to understand their ideology. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” just doesn’t work well with “kill the infidel.” As long as I can say it, “God bless you and God bless America!”