But so what?

So what if the spooks have all this authority? I mean, they'd never go so far as to abuse their authority, would they? Just consider that the Washington Post reported a few days ago:

[FBI Director Robert] Mueller said a forthcoming report from the Justice Department's inspector general will find that abuses recurred in the agency's use of national security letters in 2006, echoing similar problems to those identified in earlier audits.

Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reported a year ago that the FBI used such letters - which are not subject to a court's review - to improperly obtain telephone logs, banking records and other personal records of thousands of Americans from 2003 to 2005. An internal FBI audit also found that the bureau potentially violated laws or agency rules more than 1,000 times in such cases.

But so what? After all, that, Mueller insisted, was old stuff, history, not to be counted, because it was from before the FBI put in its own "reforms" to avoid such "lapses" in the future, reforms which clearly and of course obviate any need for any actual oversight by Congress or any court. The FBI is handling it. Really.

And Mueller is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable men.

Footnote: I quickly ran down that earlier report here; the full report can be found here.