A couple of things that don't add up for me. I'm willing to give the administration the benefit of the doubt on them, pending clarification. There may be more to the story than I currently know.

1) Reason given for not going through channels for approval of these wiretaps is that it was not quick enough. My understanding is that there are judges on call 24x7 to provide instant approval for things like this. It is probably easier and quicker to get them to approve this stuff than it is to get the president to sign off. So if not that, then what's the real reason? Or if that, then what has broken down in our judicial approval, and why not just get that fixed?

2) The president says that this leak harms national security. Was there something in the story that I did not pick up on? Or does AQ not think we do wire-tapping?