The Editors on Alberto Gonzales & National Security Agency Surveillance on National Review Online

The Editors on Alberto Gonzales & National Security Agency Surveillance on National Review Online: "Gonzales capitalized on the opportunity to dispel misconceptions about the program. It is, he explained, not a 'domestic spying' operation, but rather an effort to penetrate enemy communications. He argued that the program, for all its technological sophistication, is consistent with the actions of previous wartime administrations. He also refuted allegations that the NSA is involved in massive and indiscriminate interception of private conversations, the contents of which are then mined to decide who merits close listening. Rather, a conversation is not intercepted unless the NSA has a reasonable basis for believing that a Qaeda operative is on one end of the line � a basis that, according to Gonzales, is comparable to FISA's required showing of probable cause that the target of surveillance is an agent of a foreign power."

'"It is Congress, not the president, that strays above the law when it seeks to curtail the executive's authority."'

'The impracticable alternative would be for the president to return to Congress to request specific support — and, in so doing, to educate the enemy — every time a new tactic seemed promising."