Are there changes in U.S. law that would make intelligence gathering easier?
It may be sensible, in the era of cell phones, to change the rules for seeking a warrant for wiretapping so that it would no longer be necessary to specify the device or the location of the device that will be tapped. But in order to secure permission to do the wiretapping in the first place, under current law, credible proof has to be advanced that the individual is an agent of a foreign power. I don’t think those protections should lightly be discarded. There also has been some talk about reversing the U.S. ban on political assassination, which is currently part of an executive order governing intelligence activities. I would have to see evidence that this ban has been a barrier to successful investigation of terrorist plotting and successful movement against terrorists. Number one, the president has declared war and many of these restrictions disappear during wartime, certainly in classic wartime combat which is governed by the laws of war. Secondly, for the CIA or any intelligence
