George W. Bush certainly has chutzpah! His nominee for CIA Director, former director of the National Security Administration, Air Force General Michael Hayden designed the warrantless surveillance program in which the Federal government spied and continues to spy on Americans making international and domestic telephone calls and e-mails. Additionally, many critics voiced immediate concern that this military man will not be able to maintain independence of the CIA from the military establishment, though it is known in the intelligence circle that the Bush administration broke the CIA’s power under Porter Goss. Nevertheless, with Hayden’s appointment, active military or retired military persons would be in charge of all the major intelligence agencies as well as the National Counterterrorism Center, all at a time when lawmakers have expressed major concern over possible coercion of military personnel by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

Thank goodness for Senate Judiciary Chairman, Arlen Specter (R-PA) who upon hearing of General Hayden’s nomination twelve days ago said, and I paraphrase, that he would use it to revisit the controversy over the NSA eavesdropping program. In the questioning that resulted yesterday, the most damning statement made by General Hayden was that warrantless spying by the NSA was feasible, successful, and legal. First, the successful gathering of information on billions of American’s telephone calls is not in doubt. Second, the ability of NSA or any intelligence agency to make sense of the information gathered is in doubt. After all, the terrorist jihad is international, and not domestic, though aimed at the USA as well as all the other nations of the world. And, third, wire tapping by the Federal government (and I stress) is not legal - no matter the controversy – the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act banned domestic espionage without warrant by the NSA. Additionally, the question must be asked whether or not the billions spent by General Hayden as director of NSA on the illegal wiretapping program makes fiscal sense. Our government is digging itself into an immense financial hole of which General Hayden’s spendthrift practice is but one example.

Perhaps, in 2006, these Senate hearings give evidence that, no matter our party affiliation, we are finally waking up to the facts that we are spending money flagrantly on the wrong “war against terror”, and that we have been losing our legal rights in bits and pieces because of the “climate of fear” generated by this president and his administration.

One can only hope.