NEW YORK, NY March 27, 2007 —One day after Police Commissioner Ray Kelly defended an NYPD surveillance program of groups planning to protest the 2004 Republican National Convention, Mayor Bloomberg weighed in. He, too, says the police were justified in spying on demonstrators.

But revelations of the extensive spying, detailed over the weekend by the New York Times, has prompted sharp criticism from Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Here to sort out the debate with All Things Considered host Amy Eddings – and to tell us what the federal government thinks of the NYPD’s overseas spying – is WNYC’s Bob Hennelly.