Who's Minding the Spies?

This NSA spying on Americans story has hit the elite's collective brain like a double espresso. Smart folk -- in an archetypal intra-elite scrum which won't involve the unwashed -- realize the incredible potential for abuse, the near-impossibility of safeguards if Bush were allowed to continue the program on his own terms.

Unlike some critics I've always had a deep admiration for the recent former head of NSA, Gen. Mike Hayden, now deputy director of national intelligence. I don't think Mike would mind if I now identify him (he'd held other positions at the time) as one of my best sources during the Bosnian conflict. I always found him honest, direct, and -- perhaps unusually so for someone in his position -- the recipient of enormous loyalty from his staff, which he courageously returned. If implementing Bush's spying game were left just up to Mike or somebody like him I wouldn't much worry about it. But of course the problem isn't about people with character, it's about all those sharks in the system. If somebody like Rove, for example, or Bolton, can tap this machinery to spy on anti-neo-con political leaders, or who knows what others, much mischief may ensue.