The Corner

Krauthammer’s Take: Chance of Abuse No Excuse for Eliminating PRISM

https://youtube.com/watch?v=N-VqPwNe5WE%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_detailpage

Charles Krauthammer responded to critics of the newly revealed PRISM program on Special Report by appealing to the principles that undergird the program, as opposed to the politics now at work. “You have to ask yourself: Is this in principle a program that is constitutional?”

Krauthammer endorsed the Wall Street Journal op-ed published yesterday by former attorney general Michael Mukasey, who wrote, “The Constitution and U.S. laws are not a treaty with the universe; they protect U.S. citizens.” Krauthammer observed that espionage is a necessary tool of the security trade, and as long as the federal government’s security programs focus outward — that is, on foreign operatives, as PRISM reportedly does — then the programs are not only reasonable but advisable.

“In principle, can you abuse that?” Krauthammer summarized. “Yes…but to say, well, in principle it can be abused so we shouldn’t have it, makes no sense at all.”

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