I’m sure everyone remembers the popular sitcom moment when someone is caught eavesdropping from behind a door. Maybe you’ve even had a conversation ruined by finding out that someone sneaky was there listening.

This is how many Americans feel about the federal government listening in on their phone calls. They feel as if there are two men dressed in expensive suits, trench coats and shiny black shoes in a van outside their house listening to their every word. Let me assure you that this isn’t the case when it comes to the National Security Agency wiretaps.

No one wants to have their freedoms infringed upon and be listened to unknowingly, especially by one’s government. I don’t either. But unless you’re associated with terrorists or happen to be one yourself, you’re not included in the group of people who’ll be monitored.

What the media is calling “warrantless wiretapping” is really terrorist monitoring. Yes, phone calls and e-mails are being observed, but only select people are monitored if they have a suspected link to terrorism.

The federal government found information directly pointing to some people as suspects. With this information, the government launched what President Bush calls a “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” The link that started this began with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the terrorist who was the suspected mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. When the Pakistani and U.S. agents retrieved his hard drive, they found all of his contacts. Essentially every terrorist linked to him was listed in his files along with other correspondence.

These are whom the NSA is monitoring – not innocent law-abiding citizens, which you’ve been led to believe. The bottom line is, if you’re not a terrorist or chatting with one, you’re not being monitored.

The only situation worse than the government listening in on us is if it wasn’t listening in on the terrorists.

I’m glad the NSA is monitoring people suspected of being linked to terrorism. If this was being utilized pre-9/11, it could have potentially prevented the disaster. The attacks were orchestrated by Mohammed by way of his communications with terrorist cells, some of which were in Southern California. If these communications had the chance to be intercepted by the NSA, then perhaps something could have been done.

For our safety in the future, it’s good that the government listens in on the terrorists’ phone calls. The government’s action of doing what it can to gain intelligence on its enemies is something that our country has utilized from the dawn of its existence. This is nothing new.

When George Washington was president, he had a clandestine program where British correspondence was intercepted, read and then placed back on transit so nothing was suspected. Our country has utilized this means of monitoring the enemy since the Revolutionary War. There’s no reason why our present government shouldn’t use this same technique with the war on terror.

Not only have you been led to believe that you’re being monitored by the government, but also that Bush doesn’t have the power to impose these wiretaps. Basically, aside from how I’d hope you’d want terrorists to be wiretapped, the president is not entitled to take matters into his own hands. But the president is well within his authority as commander in chief to execute NSA wiretaps for terrorists. The executive branch undoubtedly has more power in times of war, but that doesn’t mean that power is necessarily being abused. Although federal judges and civil liberties groups are in an uproar over the president’s supposed abuse of power, the Justice Department agrees that it’s a necessary tool to fight terrorism.

Of course it is.

Washington realized this tool was a necessary one, as does Bush. It’s time everyone else realizes this is necessary in the war on terrorism. If you’re not a terrorist, you’re not being listened to.

The next time someone tells you that they wish there were no wiretaps, just tell them that the terrorists wish the same thing.

-Colin Lepiscopo is a television, film and new media production junior.

-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed – include your full name, major and year in school.