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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsN.S.A. Disclosures Put Awkward Light on Previous Denials
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.
When lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Tuesday for the first time since the N.S.A. disclosures, however, the criticism was muted.
In carefully delivered statements, Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio; Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader; and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, all said the programs were authorized by law and rigorously overseen by Congress and courts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/us/nsa-disclosures-put-awkward-light-on-official-statements.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
We can agree it's been happening for years. However, please stop with the meme that we all KNEW the gov't was collecting this info on all Americans for years. When the people doing the collecting are saying they aren't doing something and it's all secret, how are you suppose to KNOW for SURE it was happening for years.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"We can agree it's been happening for years. However, please stop with the meme that we all KNEW the gov't was collecting this info on all Americans for years. When the people doing the collecting are saying they aren't doing something and it's all secret, how are you suppose to KNOW for SURE it was happening for years."
...We have known for years, and Senators know even more, but with much of the information classified, people are making up the facts as they go along. I haven't see a single credible report that suggests that PRISM is anything but a program of foreign targets. Yet the frenzy reporting is conflating the two programs and making all kinds of misleading claims. This will never get sorted out. Never.
At this point, people who are convinced and pushing these claims will never believe the facts.
A Tale of Two NSA Leaks
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022985087
Enrique
(27,461 posts)it's as good an approach as any to defend the government. Better than smearing the whistleblowers, I guess.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)I'll say it again. It's Google for Tyrants.