National Opinion Leaders on NSL Revelations

While today's Washington Post editorial address the misuse of national security letters by the FBI, today's New York Times editorial uses the recent NSL revelations as a springboard to criticize the job performance of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The Washington Post editoral: Abuse of Authority,The FBI's gross misuse of a counterterrorism device (lead paragraph):

The expansion of law enforcement powers approved by Congress after Sept. 11 and contained in the USA Patriot Act was conditioned on the notion that these new authorities would be carefully used and closely monitored. An infuriating report released Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, demonstrates that the Federal Bureau of Investigation treated its new powers with anything but that kind of restraint. The report depicts an FBI cavalierly using its expanded power to issue "national security letters" without adequate oversight or justification.

The New York Times editorial: The Failed Attorney General (lead paragraph):

During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President Bush’s in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Mr. Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.

Our earlier posts:

• "Bipartisan Outrage" Over NSL Revelations; Patriot Reauthorization Act Sheds Light on Rule of Law or Lack Thereof (March 10, 2007)
• FBI Guilty of "Serious Misuse" of Patriot Act's National Security Letters (March 9, 2007)

[JH]