The Public Is Left in the Dark When Courts Allow Electronic Surveillance

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/us/politics/sidebar-public-in-the-dark-about-surveillance-orders.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Subject: re: The Public Is Left in the Dark When Courts Allow Electronic Surveillance
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   The American experiment in self-governance began with the assertion that "We the People" are sovereign here.  If that sovereignty is to mean anything, we must know what is done in our name. There have always been tactical exceptions; e.g. troop movements must be held secret by our military for the duration of a conflict. But a broad policy of spying on our fellow citizens in secret is an assertion that our police agencies don't answer to us.  Any court that would allow this has set itself to undo the Revolution of 1776.

Barry Haskell Levine