First, it finds the utility of the wiretapping program less than helpful. This is something worthwhile to note, for it means that the extralegal matters did not work so well.
Secondly, it also finds that the legal reviews were often short-circuited. One weird result is that it got the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) annoyed, and that created problems, which could have further spurred more problems for DOJ.
I think, first off, that this may change the ground on the surveillance matter. Clearly, this is a much bigger win for the civil libertarians than it is for the moderates like myself in this debate.
However, I also think it underscores something else. The law in this area is incredibly complex. It is a mess. While we often debate in the legal world rules and standards and move between the two, sometimes we do need clarity even if there is a standard in place. We need a balancing test. Even if clearly vapid, it at least sets a framework to conceptualize matters.
The problem with our intelligence situation is that it's all over the place. There is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for sure, but there is also Title III of the Omnibus Safe Street and Crime Control Act (the Title III often mentioned in the critically acclaimed series "The Wire"). What needs to happen is a reworking of the statutory framework to clarify these matters. Contravening the law, or even running close to afoul of it is much easier when you have a mess and no proper balancing tests in place to conceptualize things.
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