… The OIG report is ultimately one chapter in the larger story of how, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, both the executive and the legislative branches of government were willing to turn a blind eye to whatever they thought had to be done to stop further attacks. This attitude, which was shared by members of both parties and much of the public (this writer included), was that the executive branch should act first to save the country, then worry about legal and Constitutional issues after the fact.
Whatever your feelings on the “act first, legalize later” approach that America adopted in the wake of 9/11, it’s well worth looking at the OIG report as a document describing the government’s effort to accommodate this definitionally lawless approach to national security within the larger framework of a government of laws.
Read more of Jon Stokes’s commentary on Ars Technica.