This week we have had a chilling reminder of how real the al-Qaeda threat remains, when the government issued a worldwide terror alert that has closed U.S. embassies across the world. Reports indicate that a major terrorist attack may be imminent, citing increased "chatter" among senior al-Qaeda leaders.
Who monitors that "chatter"? The National Security Agency.
The NSA's activities must by their nature, remain secret. Given an inbred mistrust in government, fueled by the radical left, little wonder, then,that so many Americans simply don't believe it when Obama officials insist that the NSA is not monitoring the content of their calls and e-mails.
There is no evidence that anyone at the NSA intentionally and improperly searched the records of American citizens. Even Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker, has not offered any proof that NSA officials abused the authority given them by Congress and the federal courts.
Of course the NSA is not spying on Americans; it is spying on al-Qaeda. Those very same NSA analysts who have been demonized in recent weeks as a threat to our civil liberties have just given us advance warning of one of the "most specific and credible threats" since 9/11.
They are not interested in the conversations of law biding American citizens. The only domestic communications they care about are those of al-Qqaeda leaders abroad talking to terrorist operatives deployed here at home. If such conversations are taking place, we need them to find out who that operative is, where he is and what he is planning. They cannot do that without the NSA's metadata program.
The last thing we need, at this time, is the public outcry of misguided libertarians who use the means of outrage to rein in the NSA's surveillance capabilities. That would be the true tragedy.
When this is debated in social circles, don't be afraid to be branded as one who holds Democracy in contempt. The stakes are too high to not advocate for the strongest congressional and court- approved measures to fight terrorists sworn and ready to kill themselves for the glory of killing Americans.
This is a different war, requiring new tactics, specifically designed to thwart the planned strikes against us , at the earliest planning phase, with no foreseeable end in sight.
And if a terrorist transmission is sent to an American citizen, here or abroad, his constitutional rights should be deemed presumptively waived. Collateral technicalities should not abridge the effectuation of the highest level of national protection.
Debate is good, until and unless it override common sense.
Everyone, regardless of which side their views align with, shares one common denominator:
We want to protect ourselves from fanatical terrorists.
Let the professionals pick up the phone.
Our rights and liberties are safe and sound.
As we want to be.
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