I Spy

One of the stories brewing in Mexico this week was the discovery of a signed contract between Mexico's intelligence agency and a high-end private investigation firm to monitor the activity of congressmen while using a special informational database created for congress. (The system sounds like an advanced version of ProQuest. What benefit this could bring to the people spying is beyond me.) So far the reaction has been rather muted, at least for an American who immediately thought of Nixon and wondered who was going to have to resign as a result of this. Thus far, no one has. The chief of CISEN, as the agency is called, denied having spied on anyone. Ana María Salazar points out that while none of this is illegal, it leaves some thorny questions unanswered. I agree. And I'd like to hear something from President Calderón, who often seems to remain strangely quiet in these sorts of cases, as if he doesn't want to get his hands dirty even by denouncing others' shady activities.