Covers the various controversies about wiretapping.

US intelligence agencies - the eponymous American spies - are exceedingly aggressive, pushing and sometimes bursting through the technological, legal and political boundaries of lawful surveillance. Written for a general audience by a surveillance law expert, this book educates readers about how the reality of modern surveillance differs from popular understanding. Weaving the history of American surveillance - from J. Edgar Hoover through the tragedy of September 11th to the fusion centers and mosque infiltrators of today - the book shows that mass surveillance and democracy are fundamentally incompatible. Granick shows how surveillance law has fallen behind while surveillance technology has given American spies vast new powers. She skillfully guides the reader through proposals for reining in massive surveillance with the ultimate goal of surveillance reform.

In the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush declared that the struggle against terrorism would be nothing less than a war—a war that would require new tools and a new mind-set. As legal sanction was given to covert surveillance and interrogation tactics, internal struggles brewed over programs and policies that threatened to tear at the constitutional fabric of the country.Bush's Law is the alarming account of the White House's efforts to prevent the publication of Eric Lichtblau's exposé on warrantless wiretapping—and an authoritative examination of how the Bush administration employed its “war on terror” to mask the most radical remaking of American justice in generations.