I think FAS is a pretty good source. I generally find ACLU's takes to be honest and well-studied.

Then you will pardon me if I find it curious that the ACLU blog has linked to a Glenn Greenwald article on the FISA topic when he wrote at Salon.com

http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/aclu-lens-court-r...

And you'll also pardon me that I find it curious that Glenn Greenwald has been asked to give speeches at ACLU events.

http://aclum.org/greenwald

"On Thursday, May 26th, 2011, award-winning Salon.com columnist and New York Times-bestselling author Glenn Greenwald gave a fiery address to attendees at the ACLU of Massachusetts annual Bill of Rights Dinner. He described how the Obama administration has aggressively defended--and at times expanded--the Bush White House's attacks on civil liberties, expansion of government surveillance and secrecy, and executive power assertions in the ''war on terror.'' He argues that this continuity between the two major political parties spells long-term trouble for the Bill of Rights in the United States, and suggests that the work of the ACLU is crucial to reestablishing the rule of law."

In fact Mr. Greenwald turns up on their site again and again: http://www.aclu.org/search/%22glenn%20greenwald%22 Knowing that Greenwald trained and practised as a lawyer you should realise that the ACLU is one of the few organisations he points to as standing up for the average citizen against the possible (read actual) tyrannies of government.

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I know you're a smart guy: may I suggest that there is some cognitive dissonance at play between your statements, "If you want to have your biases confirmed, Greenwald is a very effective mechanism for doing that." and "I generally find ACLU's takes to be honest and well-studied." given that these two actors practically seem to sing from the same hymn sheet.

For the other clueless folks: FAS seems to refer to http://www.fas.org/, and here is a helpful search to quickly find their info: https://www.google.com/search?q=FAS+fisa (I think.)