Update, 12:25 PM EST (see note at the end of this post)

Here is the fear many politicians are attempting to plant in American minds about the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP): our government is conducting wholesale, domestic spying on the populace’s communications, “Big Brother” is spying on us all. It is a flat out lie.

Yet because the program is highly classified, soup to nut fear mongers — Senator Ted Kennedy to Congressman Ron Paul — can allege it without offering one example of proof, and the administration cannot roll out the program for the public to view to prove them wrong. The allegation of domestic spying stands alone, unproven and undisputed, and is the perfect storm for those seeking to undermine our national security for political gain.

Washington Times columnist Bill Gertz reported this morning:

“There is no evidence to substantiate claims about warrantless spying on Americans prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks,” the report stated. “Nor is there any evidence to substantiate the claim that the TSP covered domestic calls between friends, neighbors and loved ones. As the president has stated, the TSP involved the collection of international calls involving members of al Qaeda.” [Editor — The report came from the office of Senator Christopher S. Bond, a Missouri Republican and the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.]

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, said during the floor debate last month that the surveillance program spied on innocent Americans. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, also said then that any surveillance without a court order undermines “our democratic society.”

But the report stated that “warrantless surveillance for foreign intelligence collection has been an integral part of our nation’s foreign intelligence gathering. During World War II, our warrantless surveillance of the German and Japanese militaries and the breaking of their codes preserved our democracy.
…
The staff report said critics of the surveillance program claim it should have been carried out under FISA rules. However, it stated that a decision by a surveillance court judge last year “proved that the TSP could not be done under FISA as it existed at that time.”

“This decision resulted in significant intelligence gaps and led to the need for, and passage of, the Protect America Act,” the report said.
…
Democratic critics also have said the FISA law is the only permitted basis for conducting electronic surveillance, but the report stated that the Constitution “trumps any statute.”

“It is false to suggest that the president has no inherent constitutional authority to conduct warrantless surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes because Congress tried to limit it in FISA,” the report stated.

There is evidence that the FISA law inhibited the rescue operation of three soldiers kidnapped in Iraq by al Qaeda last year.

Senators Kennedy and Dodd have yet to refute the evidence that their perfect storm is getting our soldiers killed. If asked, they will likely claim they cannot discuss the details of that classified operation, proving my point that their allegation of domestic spying is scurrilous and the TSP is only being used to target the enemy.

Update: I spoke with Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA, 9th District) this morning who stated that a senior military officer had briefed him and confirmed the search for the three kidnapped US soldiers was delayed by more than nine hours while waiting for a FISA warrant.