Negroponte puts NSA legal troubles ahead of preserving citizens' rights

President Bush wants to throw out all the NSA domestic spying lawsuits because such lawsuits would force classified information to be revealed in a closed court room:

In papers filed late Friday, Justice Department lawyers said itwould be impossible to defend the legality of the spying programwithout disclosing classified information that could be of value tosuspected terrorists.

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte invoked the statesecrets privilege on behalf of the administration, writing thatdisclosure of such information would cause "exceptionally grave damage"to national security.

As a political science/history student, I cannot help but draw parallels between what we are seeing today and the propaganda during the Cold War.  The House hearings during the late-40s and early-50s involving Hollywood screenwriters accused of being communists were part of a sustained effort to snoop into the lives of anyone nuanced enough to ever question the domestic-driven U.S. foreign policy.  We are watching the same thing unfold today.  Although the a very legitimate battle against terrorism continues abroad, there are a few individuals heading government agencies here that are trying to get the government to wage war against its own law-abiding citizens.

Domestic surveillance by the NSA is supposed to occur with the oversight of both the legislature and our judicial system.  If a U.S. citizen feels that his or her privacy is being violated, then that is where our Judicial system comes in to at least hear the cases of those people.  If there is no way for those people to be heard, then there is absolutely no check on the Executive agencies in question.

Like during the Cold War, today National security is the ultimate trump card being used to outweigh all other matters in government.  What it comes down to is one question: is it more important to prevent the disclosure of classified information in a closed court room; or is it more important to see to it that every citizen has the right to be fully represented by our judicial system?  You make the call.