Just after terrorists rammed a gasoline-filled vehicle into Scotland’s Glasgow Airport, the Bush administration this week must decide how to respond to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas for documents on the legality of the National Security Administration’s electronic surveillance program.

These subpoenas and document requests erode the foundation of mutual trust that has governed government-business relations in America.

The committee also requested documents on the relationship between the administration and several unidentified telecommunications companies that assisted the NSA. The request includes any existing documents on any agreements that telecommunications companies made to cooperate with surveillance programs.

In most civil societies, cooperating with the government in areas of governmental authority is not an embarrassment or a crime. And these are not ordinary times: Al Qaeda brags that its terrorists plot and scheme to murder and maim not only in Britain but around the world.

In America, telecommunications companies cooperating with the government to find these murderers are accused of committing unconscionable acts.

The NSA uses sophisticated surveillance techniques on communications services. Several individuals and civil liberties groups have filed lawsuits against telecommunications companies, alleging that surveillance compromises privacy and that they should not cooperate with the government. Defendants include: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Embarq, U.S. Telecom, T-Mobile, Comcast, and other telecommunications companies.

It is entirely possible that government agencies exceeded their lawful authority. The government should be held accountable, but why should private firms be liable for the excesses of a government agency? The obvious and appropriate defense is that a private firm has an implied immunity when assisting a government agency in carrying out its lawful responsibilities. Sadly, that defense has not always worked.

In one case brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T, the federal District Court Judge Vaughn Walker last year issued an opinion that included the following: “AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal.” With all due respect to Judge Walker, he reaches the wrong conclusion.

Except for government behavior that is patently unlawful, private parties are not in a position to prejudge government officials seeking help. A private firm cannot reasonably determine whether the governmental agency has the legal authority to engage in a broad class of activities, much less whether every detail of that activity is lawful.

In a civil society, the reasonable presumption must be that government officials act lawfully. Most American businesses follow the law, comply with onerous regulations, and help government officials as requested. Cooperating with the government is usually considered a good business practice as well as the duty of good citizenship and common decency. When we receive a tax bill, we pay it and do not ask lawyers to determine whether the tax administrator has the authority to collect taxes or whether the taxes collected will be lawfully disbursed. But if Judge Walker is correct, then no firm can or should reasonably comply with any request from the government without first conducting an extensive legal analysis.

The courts and Congress will determine whether any government agency exceeded its legal authority and the consequences of those actions. But rational businesses will not wait for the end of this legal dispute. They will hesitate to cooperate with the government in the future. No business wants to appear in court accused of breaching customer privacy. No business wants to see its name mentioned in documents handed over to congressional committees in a highly politically charged environment. When government officials ask for cooperation in the future, the cold response will not be a surprise.

Before good citizenship and common decency are completely lost in government-business relationships, it is time for calmer heads to prevail in Washington. Americans watch in horror as terrorism spreads around the world, fearful that the next attack will be on our soil. Many Americans want the NSA to do more rather than less surveillance, requiring the cooperation of telecommunications companies.

The current subpoenas and document requests do more harm thangood. The administration and Congress need to find a better way to reach a common understanding to prevent the next attacks from happening in America.

A former FCC commissioner, Mr. Furchtgott-Roth is president of Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises. He can be reached at hfr@furchtgott-roth.com.