The Surveillance State's Bridge Too Far

I was under the impression that the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program was to be used so we could uncover dastardly al-Queda plots. So what was the NSA doing listening to a sitting congresswoman discussing Israeli lobbyists? Lawmaker Is Said to Have Agreed to Aid Lobbyists

One of the leading House Democrats on intelligence matters was overheard on telephone calls intercepted by the National Security Agency agreeing to seek lenient treatment from the Bush administration for two pro-Israel lobbyists who were under investigation for espionage, current and former government officials say.

The lawmaker, Representative Jane Harman of California, became the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee after the 2002 election and had ambitions to be its chairwoman when the party gained control of the House in 2006. One official who has seen transcripts of several wiretapped calls said she appeared to agree to intercede in exchange for help in persuading party leaders to give her the powerful post.

OK, so these guys asked for help and Harmon ... agreed to help them. Did money change hands? Doesn't look like it, although someone did promise to withhold money from Nancy Pelosi. I assume that the "scandal" would be that Harmon was offered help to obtain a committee chairmanship. How could this be different from the sort of backscratching that is common in obtaining committee assignments?

Given the changes in fashion the last few years, I have a feeling there are at least two things that Harmon will be considered to have done wrong: (1) helped Israel and (2) helped cover up the wiretapping program. In fact, Alberto Gonzalez appears to have intervened in the NSA's Harmon investigation with the second goal in mind:

The CQ article, citing unnamed present and former national security officials, said a preliminary review was halted by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales because he wanted Ms. Harman’s support in dissuading The New York Times from running an article disclosing a program of wiretapping without warrants conducted by the National Security Agency.

It's really a toss-up as to whether Alberto Gonzaez or Henry Paulson were the worst Bush appointees. Paulson was probably the more destructive, but Gonzalez was simply stupid. I would like to think anyone else would have washed their hands of this, rather than head straight into a cover-up. Not that this lets the intelligence community off the hook. What the hell was the NSA (and CIA, according to the original CQ story) doing wiretapping a congresswoman? Was the FBI busy that week? Was there even a warrant? The intelligence community's transition from spying on al-Queda to spying on Americans may well have broken a land speed record for abuse of power.