Glad to know Big Brother is watching you

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Investigators trying to uncover terrorist cells have about 200 people in the United States under "constant" surveillance -- individuals whose names were uncovered as a result of information from Abu Zubaydah and other sources, officials familiar with the terror investigation told CNN.


Zubaydah, the head of operations for al Qaeda, was taken into custody in March in Pakistan, and is the highest-ranking Osama bin Laden operative now in the hands of authorities.


Officials confirmed to CNN that Zubaydah continues to provide good information to investigators. During his capture, investigators said, they also recovered disks and documents that have been helpful in determining the focus of the terror investigation in the United States.


Included in the intelligence gathered were names of suspected terrorists, these officials said. That information and other intelligence has led officials to some mosques and about 200 individuals in the United States. Those people, the sources said, are under "constant" surveillance.

In a great essay, Frank Conroy talks about his student days. In the cafeteria one day, he joins an older man whom he had seen there for the past few days. The man was Chief Justice William Douglas. After a brief conversation, Conroy tells him that he is dating the granddaughter of the famous justice Learned Hand. Conroy becomes, then, the go-between for a debate between these two famous justices. Here's the gist.


Douglas asks Conroy to question Hand about a case involving FBI surveillance of a group of conspirators and the meaning of the term "clear and present danger." Douglas wondered whether the group actually represented a "present" danger since the FBI already had the group under surveillance. Hand's response, "Ask Justice Douglas when he has regained his faith in the FBI."


John