We fought the mafia without a special, federal, super-secret program for eavesdropping. They knew their phones lines could be wiretapped, right ...
Why is al-qa'ida different, Senator Hatch?
Doesn't add up.
Sure, there are elements of unraveling a network / ring that are unique, but I cannot see how their secrecy requires even more secrecy from us/US, across-the-board. Can you? Certainly nothing to do with telecommunications companies, at least ...