There's two modes of operation, you seem to have the second in mind, and I am thinking of the first:
1:
a. NSA collects American national's "information pursuant to a valid foreign intelligence tasking". (this may be illegal, violation of fourth amendment rights, no supreme court decision)
b. NSA tip SOD (if 1. is illegal, then it follows it's illegal to pass on)
c. SOD instruct police force to stop and search for 'traffic violation' at time and place, obscure evidence trail. (DOJ investigating if this is illegal)
d. d:a) no evidence is found.
d:b) evidence is found, parallel construction begins.
2:
a. law enforcement agency DEA/IRS/SOD asks NSA to get foreign intelligence, because of investigation already underway.
other steps as above.
My problem is with the first mode. Given the first mode, do you stand by your earlier statement and:
"If a parallel chain of evidence can be constructed that leads to an arrest, that's not "because of" the NSA's monitoring programs."
See the NSA's statement re: evidence of a crime. If the first mode leads to an arrest it is by definition "because of".
In both scenarios I have a problem with d:a) where no evidence is turned up because it seems like a very unreasonable search to me.
1:
a. NSA collects American national's "information pursuant to a valid foreign intelligence tasking". (this may be illegal, violation of fourth amendment rights, no supreme court decision)
b. NSA tip SOD (if 1. is illegal, then it follows it's illegal to pass on)
c. SOD instruct police force to stop and search for 'traffic violation' at time and place, obscure evidence trail. (DOJ investigating if this is illegal)
d. d:a) no evidence is found.
2:a. law enforcement agency DEA/IRS/SOD asks NSA to get foreign intelligence, because of investigation already underway.
other steps as above.
My problem is with the first mode. Given the first mode, do you stand by your earlier statement and: "If a parallel chain of evidence can be constructed that leads to an arrest, that's not "because of" the NSA's monitoring programs."
See the NSA's statement re: evidence of a crime. If the first mode leads to an arrest it is by definition "because of".
In both scenarios I have a problem with d:a) where no evidence is turned up because it seems like a very unreasonable search to me.