N.S.A. Disclosures Put Awkward Light on Official Statements
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At the March Senate hearing, Mr. Wyden asked Mr. Clapper, “Does the N.S.A. collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”
“No, sir,” Mr. Clapper replied. “Not wittingly.”
Mr. Wyden said on Tuesday that he had sent his question to Mr. Clapper’s office a day before the hearing, and had given his office a chance to correct the misstatement after the hearing, but to no avail.
In an interview on Sunday with NBC News, Mr. Clapper acknowledged that his answer had been problematic, calling it “the least untruthful” answer he could give.
WASHINGTON — For years, intelligence officials have tried to debunk what they called a popular myth about the National Security Agency: that its electronic net routinely sweeps up information about millions of Americans. In speeches and Congressional testimony, they have suggested that the agency’s immense power is focused exclusively on terrorists and other foreign targets, and that it does not invade Americans’ privacy.
But since the disclosures last week showing that the agency does indeed routinely collect data on the phone calls of millions of Americans, Obama administration officials have struggled to explain what now appear to have been misleading past statements. Much of the attention has been focused on testimony by James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, to the Senate in March that the N.S.A. was not gathering data on millions of Americans.
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So lets summarize the situation so far:
- The US Federal Government has been collecting HUGE amounts of (once assumed) private information on US citizens for years.
- The Constitutionality of this in doubt but could only be tested if it was known that it was happening.
- The laws passed to allow this data gathering make it unlawful to even admit that it is occurring and for Congressional and Judicial oversight.
- Congressmen are in disagreement as to what this law authorizes and if they have been allowed oversight.
- The findings in the Judicial oversight are classified.
- And all that we publicly know about this program comes from Snowden, a liar, Greenwald / Guardian, Liars and Jake ‘the least untruthful” answer I could give.’ Clapper, liar and a bunch of our representatives in the legislature that can’t even get their friggin’ story straight! Not to mention a president who ran against this sort of thing and transparency who is obviously not comfortable with it.
What I find amusing, ironic and concerning all at once is that after the lies forced upon our government officials by laws passed by elected officials and opened up by lies from a once government contractor first published in a article by a lying journalist - WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT OUR GOVERNMENT DOES WITH OUR PERSONAL INFORMATION and because of those doubts, WE NO LONGER HAVE ANY PRIVACY.
This could not be written any better by a collaboration between Heller, Orwell and Kafka!