Shhh!

From TalkLeft we learn that the use of secret warrants continues to skyrocket in the wake of the adoption of the TRAITOR Act, doubling between 2001 and 2003.

Attorney General John Burnedfarm insisted that the data showed that the DOJ is serious about tracking terrorism. "We are acting judiciously and moving aggressively," he said. However,

officials say investigators have complained of a backlog of weeks or sometimes months in warrant applications, and a staff report last month from the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks spoke of "bottlenecks in the process," which the Justice Department is seeking to correct through increased personnel and organizational changes.

In other words, DOJ's "judicious" actions have produced so many requests for covert surveillance warrants that the system is overwhelmed.

It's also worth noting that

authorities made a total of 1,727 applications last year before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret panel that oversees the country's most delicate terrorism and espionage investigations, according to the new data.

Of that number, exactly one was completely turned down.

To be expected, I suppose. There is, after all, more than one definition of "oversight."