What will we know, and when will we know it?

Many are upset that the President has authorized the National Security Agency to listen-in on international communications in an attempt to prevent future terrorist attacks on the U.S., U.S. citizens, and our allies.
Interestingly, details are conveniently NOT included in many news accounts covering this story.

Details like:1. Legal reviews of the policy and past activity are conducted every45 days.2. There must be evidence of a clear link to terror networks before callsare intercepted (so the danger of random intercepts to law-abiding citizens is negligible at best).3. Congress, both House & Senate, have been briefed over a dozen times onthis NSA authorization and the activities following from it.4. The Attorney General and other counsel have reviewed this policy as itrelates to the Constitution.

Is this policy Constitutional? Some well-placed attorneys say so. If it's in doubt, lets review it. But, can our Congressional members do so behind closed doors, so that we don't let Osama & Co. in on every tactic we're using? If Congress decides it's not Constitutional, put an end to it the 13th, 15th, 20th time it comes before this esteemed body.

The fact that Congress has been briefed so many times without raising the issue begs the question - Were they paying attention? Why after briefing 13 or 14 the sudden problem?

In a world where Howard Dean & Co. will be chanting "What did he know and when did he know it?" after any future terrorist attacks within the U.S. (at least so long as the Democrats don't have their man in the White House), isn't it a little two-faced to throw accusatory brick-bats at the Commander-In-Chief once for not taking the threat seriously enough, then hurling round-2 because he is being proactive within the bounds of the law?

The threat is real, and for the terrorists' victims, there are no do-overs. Our enemy views this struggle as war whether we do or not. Certainly this policy would be condoned during a war that the Congress and American people recognized. Have we already fallen asleep? We seem to have entered an era where partisans on both sides (and their supporters) become so wrapped up in their enmity of the political foe that we ignore the fact that there is a real one, and the loss may not be an election, but lives. I welcome your thoughts.