Abuse of Power (FOLLOWUP)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/16/government.spying/index.html#cnnSTCText

In response to Rep. Harman's allegations, the NSA has been systematically reviewing the programs that they have in place for wiretaps and intercepts in order to ensure that law abiding U.S. citizens are not being surveyed. Through the course of these back checks, the NSA has reported a few incidents in which certain communications were inadvertently intercepted. This has raised controversy over laws established post 9/11 that are slowly eroding the privacy of U.S. citizens. While it is unfortunate that these communications were unlawfully intercepted, the most important this now is that we know about them.

This incident has shown the effectiveness of the system that we have in place where a branch of our government reports their follies through the bureaucratic system and goes about correcting their processes. This branch of the government controls the flow of communications and information through the United States, it would not have taken a lot of energy to prevent this information from reaching the public. However, we now know of their inadvertent illegal intercepts and see that their governing processes are effective and ensure transparency.

Additionally, in an attempt to put these few violations in perspective it is important to imagine the amount of communications that pass through NSA inspection regularly. They are charged, by us, with monitoring all communications made by non-U.S. persons that are reasonably believed to be outside of the United States. If they inadvertently intercept a handful of illegal communications it dos show that the system is not perfect; however, it shows that the system is pretty efficient.