The man in charge of this program, Hayden, is demonstrably ignorant re 4th

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Amendment

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/06.html

Landay: "The legal standard is probable cause, General -- "

Gen. Hayden : "Just to be very clear ... mmkay... and believe me, if there's any Amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it's the Fourth. Alright? And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. The constitutional standard is 'reasonable'" ( h/t Dale)

which Keith says:

OLBERMANN: To quote the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in its entirety, the one the general and the NSA folks are so familiar with and know is about reasonableness and not about probable cause, quote, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

So that right there is where your dabgun problem is, dangnabbit! No one told them about that "probable cause" stuff.

[sweetheart]

1. Of course, he's not paid to ask questions

He's paid to root out the opponents of the administration and to hang them out to dry.

[annabanana]

2. an extremely telling exchange.

This guy obviously considers the Constitution and the system of checks and balances very inconvenient.

[bigtree]

3. my take

Relying on 'Reasonable' Beliefs of Bush and Hayden (2006-05-09)

Bush administration's advocates have coined their own standard for spying on Americans outside of the FISA courts of 'reasonableness', which is a decidedly lower threshold than the 'probable cause' the 4th amendment calls for.

[EFerrari]

4. It's even worse than that. I can't remember where -- maybe

on Any Goodman's show? -- someone said he wasted billions of dollars on some intelligence program that yielded no results at all, and that argues influence peddling.

I'll google around and see if I can find it or maybe some other DUers will remember.

This guy is really, really bad news.