congress giving us impressive "oversight theater"

[coderman]

a favorite form of theatrical presentation, second only to "liberty theater". :P

SIGINT + HUMINT - OVERSIGHT == you assuming the position and paying
for the privilege.

they're solidifying public support for these previously illegal
activities and are doing a good job of it.  they won't be illegal or
this "narrowly targeted" for long...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051801887_2.html
---selective-cuts---
On the Democratic side, Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) tried to get a bit
tougher. He asked about an "independent check that can be verified on
these programs that the newspapers are reporting on."

Roberts jumped in, defensively. "I am independent and I asked very
tough questions," he reported. He paused to check with his staff, then
added that oversight was "very independent."
...
Hayden's written statement said "UNCLASSIFIED" on each page, though it
could have been labeled "UNINTERESTING" because little more than a
collection of acronyms survived the declassification process.

"As director of NSA, I was the national SIGINT manager," he said. "I
would use this important new authority, the national HUMINT manager,
to enhance the standards of tradecraft."
...
Critics may say that the SSCI -- that's the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence -- is AWOL these days when it comes to oversight. But,
FYI, no one would doubt these guys are A-OK with their ABCs.
---end-cut---