THREAT LEVEL's Snarky Math Featured in New York Times

This Sunday, The New York Times editorial page took a look at Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell's extraordinary interview with the El Paso Times. Among other revelations in that interview, McConnell defended the loosening of the nation's spy laws this August, saying the nation's spooks were bogged down in paperwork.

Mr. McConnell told The El Paso Times that it was necessary to rush through major changes to FISA before Congress went on vacation because warrants require pesky paperwork — 200 hours’ worth each.

Really? The government applied for 2,181 FISA warrants in 2006, which the blog Threat Level translated to 436,200 hours. Figuring a 40-hour workweek with two weeks off, that’s more than 218 top-secret-cleared officials doing nothing all year but writing out FISA applications.

THREAT LEVEL is flattered by the shout-out to our warrant-writing cube monkeys post. Who says math isn't fun?

Times editorial The Spy Chief Speaks, Photo: dM.nyc

See Also:

• Spies Spent 50000 Days in 2006 Writing Warrants, Chief Spy Says
• Spy Chief Torpedos Government's Lawyering in Spy Cases
• Debating Spy Laws Kills Americans and Telcos Did Spy on Americans ...