[Peace-discuss] President Obama: Tap Sen. Ron Wyden to Head the NSA

[Robert Naiman]

Pres. Obama: Tap Sen. Ron Wyden to Head NSA
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/pres-obama-tap-sen-ron?source=c.url&r_by=1135580

Here's my rap to meet two obvious objections:

"It's not realistic." No-one's offering even odds that Ron Wyden will be
the next head of the NSA. The point is to open political space by waging
preemptive psychological warfare against the idea that someone is
disqualified from heading the NSA if they are a civilian who believes that
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are good law that apply to the
national security state. Just as our campaign for Jeff Sachs to be
President of the World Bank opened political space for the idea that the
President of the World Bank can be a development expert rather than a
banker or a politician, so this campaign will open political space for the
idea that the head of the NSA can be a civilian who believes in the rule of
law.

"We need more than a new person at the top to reform the NSA." This is
beyond dispute. (Also true, obviously, about the World Bank.) It should
also be beyond dispute that it's easier for people to grab onto an
individual who represents an idea than it is for them to grab onto a
technical reform. If you advocate that Elizabeth Warren head the Fed or the
SEC, everyone knows what you're talking about: cracking down on corruption
in high finance. This is about bringing the national security state into
transparent compliance with the rule of law.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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