Okay.

* Okay. We know that for a few years now the Bush administration has engaged in warrantless surveillance of the international communications of people with known connections to al-Qaeda. We know a lot of Democrats, and some Republicans, don't like that, especially the "warrantless" part. So what are we going to do about it? End it? We hope not; the program is an important part of the War on Terror, and the existing mechanism for granting warrants, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is not nimble enough to okay each case. On the other hand, there is a good argument that some sort of oversight is appropriate. One promising solution comes from DeWine, the Republican senator from Ohio, who has proposed legislation that would specifically authorize the surveillance program--that is, make it exempt from FISA warrant requirements--but place it under congressional review. We need to build a political consensus for tracking al-Qaeda operatives and associates in the United States, which requires assuaging concerns about the executive branch's surveillance power. The DeWine plan is a good place to start.