[gagners]

I am not qualified to respond intelligently on matters of national security or methods used by the CIA. I would like to give a gut reaction to that article though:

I'm sure the CIA does things that would make "normal" people squeemish. Is it necessary? I don't know. Like I said, I'm not qualified to answer that. It does make me think of my childhood though and a specific instance:

1- There was a "rather friendly" girl in high school who would leave suggestive letters in my locker, telling me where to find her during the weekend, etc... Unbeknownst to me, my parents would read these notes, which I left on my dresser, and have stuff planned for the weekend (or outright tell me I couldn't go somewhere "because I said so"), ultimately ruining my chances for "meeting" that girl. Was it an invasion of privacy? Yes, I'm sure some parents would be appalled that they did that. Was it the best thing for me, even though I would have been pissed had I found out. Absolutely. And I thank them for it.

Bottom line: My parents did things that others wouldn't approve of because they knew it was in my best interest. I'm sure there are people still doing things like that for me somewhere in the world. Will I question how they do it? No, but I'd like to tell them "Thanks".