You make it sound like this casual thing. The only reason intelligence agencies can do all this crazy illegal stuff is because their mission is foreign intellig

You make it sound like this casual thing. The only reason intelligence agencies can do all this crazy illegal stuff is because their mission is foreign intelligence, and foreigners aren't covered by US law. This is the legal basis for every intelligence agency in every democratic state, because it doesn't take a genius to realize that their activities are otherwise prima facie illegal under any human rights perspective. So what happens when you stop making the distinction between intelligence agencies and general law enforcement agencies? You get the Gestapo [1], secret police. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo