NSA SIGINT PROGRAM HAD MORE OVERSIGHT THAN NORMAL FISA WARRANTS

WASHPOST:

According to government officials familiar with the program, the presiding FISA judges insisted that information obtained through NSA surveillance not form the basis for obtaining a warrant and that, instead, independently gathered information provide the justification for FISA monitoring in such cases.

NOT THAT THIS HAPPENED OFTEN (same article, earlier):

Twice in the past four years, a top Justice Department lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance court that information overheard in President Bush's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to obtain wiretap warrants in the court, according to two sources with knowledge of those events.

Sheesh. Only twice!? I was hoping that this intercept program would've yielded more!

BUT WHY SHOULD THE JUDGE BE PREVENTING US FROM USING MILITARY INTEL TO ARREST THE ENEMY?! DIDN'T WE TEAR DOWN "THE WALL" BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT INTEL AND NATIONAL SECURITY INTEL!?

IOW: Why should al Qaeda's jihadoterrorists get a "pass" from our criminal justice system just because we find them through a MILITARY signint program?! THIS IS LUDICROUS!

BUT THEN THERE'S THIS:

The two heads of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court were the only judges in the country briefed by the administration on Bush's program. The president's secret order, issued sometime after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, allows the National Security Agency to monitor telephone calls and e-mails between people in the United States and contacts overseas.

THEREFORE, THE ARTICLE IS ALSO CONFIRMING THAT TWO - YES TWO (2!) FISA JUDGES WERE KEPT INFORMED OF THE NSA INTERCEPT PROGRAM! When you add it all up, you MUST conclude that in many ways the "ABOVE TOP SECRET" NSA intercept program had MORE OVERSIGHT and MORE "checks and balances" than other FISA surveillance.

This NSA program had TWO (2) FISA JUDGES and EIGHT (8) Congressman kept informed EVERY 45 DAYS. Regular old vanilla FISA surveillance warrants ONLY need one (1) FISA judge to approve it (and they can use it un-rerapproved for 90 days) - and Congressmen NEVER EVER SEE THEM!

This just proves that the brouhaha over this program isn't even a "tempest in a teapot"; it's a drizzle in a tea-cup. HECK: IT'S A DROP IN A TEASPOON!

It's time to MOVE ON! If the Dems don't it will blow up in their faces: Americans want to be protected from attacks; we don't want jihadoterrorists protected by lawyers.