Michael V. Hayden maybe to replace Porter Goss
Word is that Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden will be announced as the new CIA director on Monday. Right now he’s Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Before his current job, he was director of the NSA, where he oversaw the warantless wiretap program. He may well be a good choice. I don’t know. But ...
Word is that Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden will be announced as the new CIA director on Monday. Right now he's Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Before his current job, he was director of the NSA, where he oversaw the warantless wiretap program.
He may well be a good choice. I don’t know. But it’s worth pointing out that, in defending the wiretap program at a press conference in January, he was a little unclear on the 4th amendment:
[Q:] Under the Fourth Amendment, don’t you have to have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American’s right against unlawful searches and seizures.
[Hayden:] No, actually the Fourth Amendment protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure.
[Q:] What many people believe – and I’d like you to respond to this – is that what you’ve actually done is craft a detour around the FISA court by creating a new standard of ‘reasonably believe’ in place of probable cause because the FISA court will not give you a warrant based on reasonable belief, you have to show probable cause. Could you respond to that, please?
[Hayden:] I didn’t craft the authorization. I am responding to a lawful order. All right? The attorney general has averred to the lawfulness of the order. Just to be very clear – and believe me, if there’s any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it’s the Fourth. And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. And so what you’ve raised to me is an issue of the Constitution. The constitutional standard is ‘reasonable.’ And we believe, I am convinced that we are lawful because what we’re doing is reasonable.
It might be a little nitpicky, but the amendment actually talks about both being reasonable and having probable cause:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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