Spy Chief James Clapper Wins Rosemary Award: Whopper to Congress Clinches Worst Open Government

[bobthedrummer]

Performance of 2013 (The National Security Archive)
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20140324

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. Great Read from Georgetown University.

Washington, DC, March 24, 2014 – Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has won the infamous Rosemary Award for worst open government performance in 2013, according to the citation published today by the National Security Archive at www.nsarchive.org.


Despite heavy competition, Clapper's "No, sir" lie to Senator Ron Wyden's question: "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"

sealed his receipt of the dubious achievement award, which cites the vastly excessive secrecy of the entire U.S. surveillance establishment.

The Rosemary Award citation leads with what Clapper later called the "least untruthful" answer possible to congressional questions about the secret bulk collection of Americans' phone call data.


It further cites other Clapper claims later proved false, such as his 2012 statement that "we don't hold data on U.S. citizens." But the Award also recognizes Clapper's fellow secrecy fetishists and enablers, including:

Director of the NSA General Keith Alexander
Director of the NSA General Keith Alexander who submitted multiple entries for the Rosemary Award. (Photo credit: National Security Agency)
Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, for multiple Rose Mary Woods-type stretches, such as (1) claiming that the secret bulk collection prevented 54 terrorist plots against the U.S. when the actual number, according to the congressionally-established Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) investigation (pp. 145-153), is zero; (2) his 2009 declaration to the wiretap court that multiple NSA violations of the court's orders arose from differences over "terminology," an explanation which the chief judge said "strains credulity;" and (3) public statements by the NSA about its programs that had to be taken down from its website for inaccuracies (see Documents 78, 85, 87 in The Snowden Affair), along with public statements by other top NSA officials now known to be untrue (see "Remarks of Rajesh De," NSA General Counsel, Document 53 in The Snowden Affair).
Robert Mueller, former FBI director, for suggesting (as have Gen. Alexander and many others) that the secret bulk collection program might have been able to prevent the 9/11 attacks, when the 9/11 Commission found explicitly the problem was not lack of data points, but failing to connect the many dots the intelligence community already had about the would-be hijackers living in San Diego.

[sabrina 1]

10. 'The Noble Lie'! I guess they are trained to use what the neocons called, 'the noble lie'. It is

the Machiavellian theory that the Government has to 'lie to the people' for 'their own good' or something like that. I believe Ledeen was a huge fan of Machiavelli.

They are our divinely appointed superiors so they KNOW what is best for us and see nothing wrong at all about lying to the people.

Remember the quote from one of Bush's aides, later thought to have been Karl Rove?

"That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

That is how they view the people, observers of what [b]they[/b] decide reality should be.

[Wilms]

2. But the Award also recognizes Clapper's fellow secrecy fetishists and enablers, including:

...

Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, for multiple Rose Mary Woods-type stretches, such as (1) claiming that the secret bulk collection prevented 54 terrorist plots against the U.S. when the actual number, according to the congressionally-established Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) investigation (pp. 145-153), is zero; .....

Robert Mueller, former FBI director, for suggesting (as have Gen. Alexander and many others) that the secret bulk collection program might have been able to prevent the 9/11 attacks, when the 9/11 Commission found explicitly the problem was not lack of data points, but failing to connect the many dots the intelligence community already had about the would-be hijackers living in San Diego. ...

President Obama for his repeated misrepresentations about the bulk collection program (calling the wiretap court "transparent" and saying "all of Congress" knew "exactly how this program works&quot while in effect acknowledging the public value of the Edward Snowden leaks by ordering the long-overdue declassification of key documents about the NSA's activities, and investigations both by a special panel and by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. ...

[rhett o rick]

3. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[bvar22]

4. DURec.

Clapper LIED under oath to a Senate Committee.
He later ADMITTED he had LIED,
and he walks away LAUGHING?

Adding insult to injury,
President Obama chose to circle the Party Wagons around Clapper to support him:

James Clapper: Obama stands by intelligence chief as criticism mounts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/12/james-clapper-intelligence-chief-criticism

Why pick THIS guy to start expending all that dry powder that should have been used for ACORN,
Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, and a multitude of other good Democrats who were immediately abandoned at the first slur from Brietbart or Fox News??

Why is Clapper out running around FREE instead of sitting in a Jail cell?
He has made a mockery of The Senate, our Justice Department....and our whole system of government.
Clearly, some ARE above The Law.

[Scuba]

5. +1,000

[sabrina 1]

11. I wonder how much longer people will continue to deny the reality of what is right there in front

of their eyes, enabling the takeover of this democracy by some of the worst criminals, not to mention some of the most unintelligent and anti-Constitutional people who have grabbed power in living memory?

[bobthedrummer]

6. Isn't it a felony to lie to Congress (we, the people)? n/t

[gratuitous]

9. It used to be

Nobody seems to think that's very important anymore. Otherwise, you'd think the Department of Justice would bring a case, instead of Mr. Clapper receiving a vote of confidence from his boss.

But, since I'm reliably informed of the faultlessness of the current administration and it's the Worst Thing Ever to question that, I'm sure there's a Very Good Reason for Mr. Clapper's continued employment.

[woo me with science]

7. K&R

Silence from the administration speaks volumes.

[bvar22]

8. Silence from DU speaks another volume.

I would think that at least Senator Wyden would have something to say.
By ALL metrics Clapper should at the very LEAST be held in contempt.
To let this go unchallenged is an insult to Senator Wyden, The Senate,
and the Rule of Law.

[sabrina 1]

12. Rule of law? I was told right here on DU yesterday, not once, but twice in a short space

of time, that we 'cannot apply the rule of law to elected officials, presidents eg, in position of power as it would look 'bad' for an incoming president to start investigations of a previous, from another party, administration.

Make that three times actually. The propaganda runs deep and has been absorbed. I was told that we 'had two bad options, one not to apply the rule of law, the other TO apply it'.

So no rule of law for top officials no matter how egregious the crimes. So, then, my question is, what does make us? Certainly NOT what we claim to be, a democracy. It sounds more like we have created a monarchical system where the Royal Leaders really ARE above the law, and of course their loyal 'servant's'. So what the American Revolution about after all? The Constitution, Bush was apparently only expressing the general opinion of that 'quaint old document' among our 'superiors'. He just said it out loud.

Which reminds me, I can't count the number of times I've been told that the US Constitution doesn't really matter and is NOT the law of the land, again right here on DU.

[bvar22]

13. Those who have studied History...

... have seen this before.

This is just The Beginning,
where Party Loyalty trumps principle,
where shouting and foot stamping trumps logic and debate,
where what passes for The Media is for Entertainment & Government Propaganda Purposes ONLY,
where Real EDUCATION is ONLY for the RICH Elite,
and LAWS are just for the Peasant Class.

We had a chance in the 60s & 70s.
LBJ (warts and all) WAS still pushing the Democratic Party and The Nation in the right direction,
but with Reagan and the DLC Democrats (funded by the Koch Brothers)....the American Dream has devolved into a feudal, Pre-Magna Carta nightmare.

I'm glad I'm old.

[bobthedrummer]

16. Ever research domain name exchange 2004? lol. kick. n/t

[woo me with science]

14. kick

[Dr. Strange]

15. Winner!

[bobthedrummer]

17. THANKS FOR LYING TO ALL OF US, CLAPPER! n/t

[Jefferson23]

18. Criminal Clapper..you should be wearing an orange suit behind bars. n/t