Jacob Sullum on How Obama Learned to Stop Worrying About Unaccountable Surveillance
Last week President Obama claimed he welcomed the public debate over recently revealed government surveillance programs that track personal information about millions of innocent Americans. But if it were up to Obama, says Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, the debate never would have happened, since the programs would have remained secret. The truth, according to Sullum, is that Obama does not think a debate is necessary, because top government officials have already considered all the relevant points behind closed doors and arrived at the perfect formula for sacrificing privacy in the name of security. You will have to take the president's word for it, Sullum writes, because the formula is classified.