Conffederate
Confederate

December 23, 2005

Which Side Are They On?

You've got to wonder just how fast today's mainstream media would have leaked the breaking of Enigma to the Germans.

From U.S News & World Report:

In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities, U.S. News has learned. In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program. Some participants were threatened with loss of their jobs when they questioned the legality of the operation, according to these accounts.

I would certainly hope that U.S. mosques, where terrorists have already attempted to purchase surface to air missiles, are under surveillance for radiological weapons. I should hope they are being monitored for suspicious chemicals and biological agents as well.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the main ingredient in the U.S. News story is the "surprising" fact that - get this - some suspicious Muslim sites were monitored without obtaining warrants. The rest of the story - including the "omitted details of how the monitoring is conducted" - has been public knowledge at least since June 9 of 2002 when much of this same ground was covered by the Boston Globe:

[NEST] teams have been driving around urban areas in vans known as ''Hot Spot Mobile Labs,'' armed with instruments that detect alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron radiation. Other teams are equipped with backpacks that hold smaller detectors...

...

Though the effort has relaxed somewhat since the October scare, one official said NEST units still go on random, weekly search missions in different cities, focusing on ports, warehouse districts, and other locations where a smuggled weapon might be housed.

NEST teams may have driven their vans onto mosque property to sniff the air for radioactive isotopes. Backpack-equipped NEST team members may have walked through a neighborhood or apartment complex.

The government holds that these sniff tests are legal. Not surprisingly, U.S. News was able to find a dissenting expert.

Georgetown University Professor David Cole, a constitutional law expert, disagrees. Surveillance of public spaces such as mosques or public businesses might well be allowable without a court order, he argues, but not private offices or homes: "They don't need a warrant to drive onto the property -- the issue isn't where they are, but whether they're using a tactic to intrude on privacy. It seems to me that they are, and that they would need a warrant or probable cause."

U.S. News might have also mentioned that Georgetown University Professor David Cole, "a constitutional law expert," is also the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation, a far left liberal magazine.

It gets worse.

Cole points to a 2001 Supreme Court decision, U.S. vs. Kyllo, which looked at police use -- without a search warrant -- of thermal imaging technology to search for marijuana-growing lamps in a home.

Because of course, sensors used for national security are the exact same thing as local cops making a pot bust. Brilliant comparison, Professor Cole.

Perhaps because of his politics, Cole does not bother to mention the blatantly obvious fact that these radiation-sensing technologies should not violate the "unreasonable search" clause of the Fourth Amendment because of the "special needs" exception.

Nor does Cole mention that going into publicly-accessible driveways and parking lots without a warrant is not necessarily unconstitutional.

You would think that Cole or U.S. News would have tried to seek a more balanced approach to this story.

Of course, if they did, there wouldn't be a story, would there?

Posted by Confederate Yankee at December 23, 2005 10:15 PM | TrackBack
Comments

and remember: the NYOD uses this stuff everyday of the year somehwere in the big apple, and IN TIMES SQUARE ON NEW YEARS EVE EVEYBODY COMING TO MIDTOWN IS CHECKED.

and this had been going on FOR YEARS.

and the NYTIMES never complained ONCE or cliamed they were violating anyone's rights, or that these detectors constituted an illegal search.

that USNEWS now went with the story and that it was picked up so widely in the MSM PROVES that the BDS afflicted Lefties now control the MSM and the now control the DNC.

they are more afriad of BusHitlerburton and more angry with him than they are of/at al Qaeda.

Posted by: reliapundit at December 24, 2005 12:59 AM

(above) **** NYPD.

Posted by: reliapundit at December 24, 2005 01:00 AM

Reliapundit, I believe you've pegged the situation. The radical left now controls the DNC, a majority of the Democrats in congress and the majority of the MSM. They are going to shove their version of America down everybody's throat by force if necessary.

Our forefathers had the brilliant foresight to establish a government with three branches; each with specific powers. Without the constitution, the liberadicals would probably be marching on Washington today. Our brilliant forefathers provided one more safety from such an occurance; the right to keep and bear arms. Fortunately, the liberadicals are on the side of disarmament, so guess when the firepower lays? Right where it needs to be to prevent an insurection. Don't you just love the constitution?

As for the US News, all I can say is this non-story is a "holiday" present to the liberadicals. It would be far better if the truly understood CHRISTmas.

Posted by: Old Soldier at December 24, 2005 08:27 AM

I absoulutely agree with your article which I would like to say in my own words. They break no laws driving around with electronic sniffers. It also makes me wonder what the "liberradicals" (I like that one)are hiding that they don't want found.
My opinion of them is they got nuthin I want.

Posted by: Ron at December 24, 2005 11:07 AM

You libtards are all the same- crybabies looking for the big government to come and watch you all the time like mommy. Like you need a nanny cam so no one will hurt you. Little babies and cowards. Of course, you're liberals. Are you so scared and shitting in your pants over the big bad terrorists that you have to give up your freedoms like a bunch of commies? You need a big, strong daddy to take care of little baby? You don't deserve to live under this proud flag.

Posted by: Proud, Strong American at December 27, 2005 03:18 AM

You libtards are all the same- crybabies looking for the big government to come and watch you all the time like mommy. Like you need a nanny cam so no one will hurt you. Little babies and cowards. Of course, you're liberals. Are you so scared and shitting in your pants over the big bad terrorists that you have to give up your freedoms like a bunch of commies? You need a big, strong daddy to take care of little baby? You don't deserve to live under this proud flag.

Posted by: Proud, Strong American at December 27, 2005 03:18 AM