Food For Thought

"Let me put a fine point on this," Hayden testified. "If, as we are speaking here this afternoon, Osama bin Laden is walking across the bridge from Niagara Falls, Ontario, to Niagra Falls, New York, as he gets to the New York side, he is an American person. And my agency must respect his rights against unreasonable search and seizure."

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) pressed Hayden on this point. "Does NSA spy on the lawful activities of Americans?" she asked.

"No. The answer is we do not," Hayden said.

The above quote is from the Congressional Record, page S9350, dated September 13, 2001. It originally appeared in a Washington Post Magazine article titled TEST OF STRENGTH, July 29, 2001, by Vernon Loeb. Isn't it funny that the NSA recognized Osama bin Laden as being enough of a threat to the United States that they used his name to illustrate an example of what would be considered legal spying. Keep in mind this story ran two months before the attacks of September 11. From what Mr. Hayden said, we can certainly deduce that the NSA had an ongoing surveillance program of Osama bin Laden.

Something to think about... especially with respect to recent events.