

Earlier Denials Put Intelligence Chief in Awkward Position - DanielBMarkham
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/us/nsa-disclosures-put-awkward-light-on-official-statements.html?hp

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DanielBMarkham
I'm just flabbergasted at this part of this article:

 _...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.”

...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.

Michael V. Hayden, the former director of both the N.S.A. and the C.I.A., said
he considered Mr. Wyden’s question unfair, given the classified subject.
“There’s not another country in the world where that question would have been
asked and answered in a public session,” he said._

Am I to understand that Hayden feels that the public should have no knowledge
of the data the country is collecting on them? And this makes sense because
the war on terror is so important?

Furthermore, is he saying that 1) the question shouldn't have been asked, or
2) more likely, that both the question and answer could have coordinated in
such a way to make the public think one thing when in fact the other thing was
true?

When the American people don't have the right to know what the government is
collecting on them, and major officials seem to feel that this is the way it
should be, that's some serious institutional rot. Somebody needs to clean it
out.

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paulydavis
He should be tried for lying under oath.

