Several media aspects of the NSA intercept story – and the political use of them – have been bothering me for days.

First, has anyone else noticed the strange juxtaposition of the words “massive” and “wiretapping” whenever a columnist, reporter, or blogger writes about the NSA intelligence operation? From what has been released so far (and this may change as more revelations from the top secret program are eagerly released by the press) it appears that a very, very small number of Americans have had their communications directly monitored and that apparently all of these people (with the exception of a very small number of people who were mistakenly caught up in the dragnet) were either in direct contact with the enemy or the enemy’s sympathizers and agents. In other words, the “massive” number of communications that have been intercepted have never been examined by human eyes or ears. No human being has been aware that they even exist.

Can a computer violate our Fourth Amendment rights?

More to the point, is this wiretapping?”

The legal website NOLO defines wiretapping thusly:

Eavesdropping on private conversations by connecting listening equipment to a telephone line.

Please note the term “listening equipment.” The intercept program cannot itself “listen in” on conversations or read emails. By its very definition it only snags very specific communications and places them aside for later analysis. And, from what this article implies, it appears that any study of the intercepts is largely confined to traffic analysis – a useful tool in uncovering terrorist networks.

So far, there has been precious little released that would fill in the gaps of our knowledge of how this program actually works which would lead any sane person to the conclusion that people who are either criticizing and defending this program are blowing smoke out of a hole where the sun don’t shine. About all that can be said for certain is that the only thing “massive” going on is exaggeration in the numbers of people who have actually been “wiretapped.”

I asked a similar question regarding the FBI-DOE program to monitor private businesses and houses of Muslim Americans for a specific radiation signature that would indicate the presence of nuclear material.

It is legitimate to question the legality of programs that actually snoop on people – physically read their email or listen to their phone conversations. But if your telephone number is caught up in some kind of digital dragnet being carried out by the NSA only to be sloughed off and forgotten within minutes after it becomes clear that you’re not a terrorist, what’s the big deal?

Reading liberal commenters (and even some libertarian absolutists) I am worried that, somehow I’m missing something important in this debate. Are we paying too high a price for our liberty to have our telephone number or email intercepted by a dumb brute of a computer in service to the government? I am willing to listen to arguments to the contrary but how can this be a threat? Take the following into account and then tell me where this “grave threat” to civil liberties is occurring with this program:

• There is no evidence that political opponents of the Administration have been targeted.

• There is no evidence that anti-war protesters are having their emails and phone calls monitored in any way by this program (domestic surveillance may be another issue altogether).

• There is no evidence that the program is being used to blackmail anyone.

• There is no evidence that the government is using this program in any way, shape, or form to gain any kind of a political advantage for the Administration.

• There is no evidence that innocent Americans are being deliberately targeted by this program. Even critics acknowledge that the mistakes made by NSA employees when purely domestic to domestic communications are intercepted are immediately corrected.

If the real argument here involves a slippery slope – that giving the government an inch they will take a mile – I’m sorry, but I don’t buy it. If this were indeed some kind of massive intrusion by government into the private lives of innocents that would be one thing. But the program just seems to make sense. Al Qaeda is based overseas. In order to carry out attacks against us, they have to send their operatives over here to do so. And if the terrorists (who have access to professional expertise in both Pakistani and Saudi intelligence) are constantly trying to defeat our efforts to discover their plans by using sophisticated technical means and other methods of concealment, doesn’t it stand to reason that such a program is vital and necessary?

I realize this post has been all over the map on this issue. I wholeheartedly agree that some aspects that have been revealed so far are open to debate as to both their legality and constitutionality. But until someone can show me how this is 1) a “massive,” intrusive violation of our Fourth Amendment rights and 2) that there has been large scale “wiretapping” of innocent Americans, I am going to hold my fire and await further information before either outright condemnation or support.

As it stands now…let’s wait and see.