Reply #7: You may be literally correct.

[leveymg]

Look, the thing about the Patriot Act that most people already understand is that it allows gov't agencies to retain and share information about US persons. But, here's a side of it that not many may have caught onto, yet. What if the DIA, for instance, wants to determine exactly who's responsible for the "16 little words", or the CIA wishes to track down the original leaker of Valerie Plame, or FBI Counter-terrorism would like to set the record straight about exactly what Dubya was told about the al-Qaeda cells inside the U.S. the summer of 2001 and why he decided not to roll up the UBL cells before 9/11?

The answer, my friends, is that the Patriot Act makes it legal for these agencies to retain, analyze and share among them -- and with the US Attorney from Chicago -- the intercepts that NSA has stored. Do you really think they wouldn't, and haven't?

This is a town of dossier collectors and turf protectors. Always has been, and always will be. The Patriot Act just makes it easier to keep tabs on the opposition on the other side of the Potomac.

Mark

P.S. - I love those Googling Monkeys. But, too intelligent to be White House operatives.