Bush NSA tried to wiretap a Congressman

The Times reported earlier this week that the Justice Department's investigation into warrantless wiretapping revealed an attempt by the Bush NSA to wiretap a member of Congress:

And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The agency believed that the congressman, whose identity could not be determined, was in contact — as part of a Congressional delegation to the Middle East in 2005 or 2006 — with an extremist who had possible terrorist ties and was already under surveillance, the official said. The agency then sought to eavesdrop on the congressman’s conversations, the official said.
The official said the plan was ultimately blocked because of concerns from some intelligence officials about using the N.S.A., without court oversight, to spy on a member of Congress.

It's great that the plan was ultimately blocked, but extremely problematic that the only thing standing in the way was "concerns from some intelligence officials."

I've been a bit cavalier about the warrantless wiretapping issue in the past. I realize it's a FISA violation, but there's no constitutional requirement to get a warrant if one of the callers is outside of the country. I also don't see a huge problem if the NSA listens to a minute while I call my friend in Australia. There really didn't seem to be evidence that this was a concerted effort to either a.) use info from the calls for general domestic criminal purposes (ie- they don't hear you talking terrorism, but do hear about your embezzlement and bust you for that) or b.) abuse of the wiretaps to target political opponents or legit domestic groups (as Nixon did tapping Dr. King, etc.).

Going after a member of Congress for contacts made during an official trip abroad really crosses that line for me. It indicates that there may have been some political motivation, or at least a serious lack of thinking on the part of some of the wiretappers about who in fact needs to be tapped.