Via Liberty Papers, I read the following from Atlas Blogged.

Suppose the CIA wants to eavesdrop on Vladimir Putin. They don’t need a warrant. They just listen in on his phone conversations and they are legally within bounds as far as US laws are concerned. Vladimir calls Kim Jong Ill, they listen in. Vladimir calls Osama bin Laden, they listen in. Everything is kosher so far. And then Vladimir calls me. The CIA does not have the legal authority to eavesdrop on my phone calls, but they do have the legal authority to eavesdrop on Putin’s. Can they legally listen to that phone call Putin has with me? Keep in mind that domestic police can legally listen to Rammage’s call to me, despite having no legal authority to eavesdrop on my phone calls. The domestic police do not have to drop that call on account of my rights and run out and get another warrant, this one with my name on it, in order to listen in to the conversation with Rammage.

My argument on the matter is quite simple -- if the purpose is to listen to the party from abroad, then national intelligence agencies are well-within their bounds listening to calls made from abroad with parties in America. What's more, they are also well-within their bounds listening to calls from America to parties they are surveilling abroad. Only when the target of the surveillance is within America is a warrant needed -- and the warrants in such cases should be issued to the FBI, not the CIA or other intelligence agency.

Remember, the Constitution only applies in America, folks -- and not to our enemies abroad. Any incidental surveillance of calls to or from the US is permitted on the same basis that both sides of a call may be monitored under a search warrant.

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