DNI denies NSA analysts can tap calls without a warrant

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3. This is all double-talk. The dragnet warrants authorize collection of everyone's data.

You have to parse Mr. Clapper's statement. The following words in bold have a specific meaning that may be lost to those unfamiliar with FISA law:

“The statement that a single analyst can eavesdrop on domestic communications without proper legal authorization is incorrect and was not briefed to Congress,” said the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in a statement.

Protocols place some limits on what single analysts can access but the system allows managers to look at anything.

The warrants allow NSA to order telcos to provide all data on everybody. The system works to scan metadata in phone calls and combine this information with data obtained by from email and by FISA Court orders and administrative orders issued to the online search engines, social networking sites, to Microsoft and Apple to access OS backdoors, and the rest of the data the NSA acquires both with and without warrants, such as credit records, shopping records, and marketing information to construct predictive profiles that are used to target further investigations of individuals.

That latter part about predictive profiling -- Son of TIA -- is not being briefed to Congress or talked about, and is not explicitly authorized by Sec. 702. It is probably the most danger thing about the NSA/CIA/FBI/IC system.