Saturday, June 24, 2006
Editorial: Bush, again, tests the limits of his power
A financial tracking program pries into the private transactions of thousands. Oversight is needed to protect Americans from abuse.
From the RoundTable blog
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Once more, the Bush administration has used the fight against terror as an excuse to exert broad, unchecked executive authority to pry into the private activities of Americans.
Once more, the administration assures Americans that the program is legal, and limited only to those suspected of ties to al-Qaida.
Once more, the administration has avoided any real congressional or judicial oversight of its activities.
The New York Times reported Friday that the CIA and Treasury Department have "gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States."
As with the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program and massive database of American calling records, administration officials can make compelling arguments that they are acting to protect Americans from very real and dangerous threats.
Stuart Levy, an undersecretary at the Treasury Department, told The Times that the financial tracking program "provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks and is, without doubt, a legal and proper use of our authorities."
That final assurance is the problem. The administration has consistently demonstrated an utter disrespect for privacy rights, the law and the role of the other two branches of government in serving as a check against excessive executive power.
Everyone is simply supposed to accept assurances that everything Bush does in the name of national security is legal and constitutional, no matter how great the potential for abuse. In that spirit, the administration fiercely resists congressional oversight and judicial review.
Let's be clear: The United States should be using every technological advantage it has to root out terrorists, choke off their financing and bring them to justice.
But the nation should not abandon centuries-old principles and freedoms when a few safeguards could ensure that such tools are not abused.
Bush loyalists who support the administration's broad attempt to enhance and expand executive authority should remind themselves that, once granted, such authority will not be willingly surrendered by future administrations.
Even those who trust Bush not to abuse executive powers, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, should be wary of the precedents his initiatives have established.
As Benjamin Franklin said, those who would sacrifice essential liberty for temporary security deserve neither.
