Think they don't know?

McClellan, the President's spokesman, and others have argued that they did not seek legislative changes to the FISA law to allow their type of warrantless searches because it would "open their playbook" to al Queda.

He then went on to cite al Queda's sophistication and ability to adapt. Given that Bin Laden and the entire network has relied upon non-technological methods of communication (coded messages sent with couriers, face-to-face meetings) since before
9/11, it would suggest that the terrorist network is quite aware of the dangers of using electronic communications.

Any group that is presumed to have the expertise to obtain and implement a suitcase nuclear weapon would have the tech savvy to know better than to focus on electronic communications.

Any Islamist who forgets that is likely to learn the lesson the Chechen rebel leader Dudayev learned in 1996, 10 years ago, when the Russians homed in on his satellite phone and took him out with a missile. The Chechen rebels are also in contact with the larger network of Islamist extremists.

- Murphy