I didn’t catch President Bush on the radio recently, but I would like to note a few things. Firstly, the legality of the NSA’s eavesdropping on American citizens is a bit over my head, but I’ll defer to Mark Levin’s knowledge on the issue at least when it comes to communications of American citizens with foreign nationals, as well as emergency authorizations by the Office of the President.

Now, while Eric has dripped with sarcasm over Bush’s support of the PATRIOT Act (a law I hardly agree with anyway), I’d rather focus on Bush’s indignance over the media’s leaks of our less than honorable, but perhaps necessary, practices abroad:

This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.

One quote from Levin to which I will simply say “what he said:”

But these leaks — about secret prisons in Europe, CIA front companies, and now secret wiretaps, are egregious violations of law and extremely detrimental to our national security. They are far worse than any aspect of the Plame matter. The question is whether our government is capable of tracking down these perpetrators and punishing them, or will we continue to allow the Times and Washington Post determine national security policy. And if these wiretaps are violative of our civil liberties, it’s curious that the Times would wait a year to report about it. I cannot remember the last time, or first time, this newspaper reported a leak that was helpful to our war effort.

Let us assume, then, that whoever it was who leaked Valerie Plame’s name gets prosecuted and punished under the full weight of the law. Can we expect the same justice and accountability from those in the media that leaked this classified information? Or will those in charge of enforcing the law choose to turn a blind eye out of fear of what the media can do?

UPDATE: I thus ride both with Dean Esmay’s emotions and thoughts on the matter
(compensating for my legendary anal-retentive tone). Says he:

I think they are all being rather timid. These leakers have exposed a perfectly legal, perfectly sensible government operation that has undoubtedly helped round up hundreds of members of Al Qaeda and saved the lives of countless Americans. Exposing such a secret program is not whistle-blowing–it is high treason.

When I say “treason” I don’t mean it in an insulting or hyperbolic way. I mean in a literal way: we need to find these 21st century Julius Rosenbergs, these modern day reincarnations of Alger Hiss, put them on trial before a jury of their peers, with defense counsel. When they are found guilty, we should then hang them by the neck until the are dead, dead, dead.

No sympathy. No mercy.

Considering the year-long wait taken by the media to release this story, it certainly adds mens rea to the act, a definite and malicious (if quite misguided) intent not present, say, in Geraldo Rivera’s careless disclosure of his position in Iraq (considered classified, too, in the theatre of war) which should have granted him the privelege of staying there and welcoming the jihadists anyway.