Director of national intelligence apologizes to senators for lying about NSA spying [View all]
http://rt.com/usa/clapper-lying-senate-nsa-568/
US director of national intelligence James Clapper has sent a letter to senators in which he apologizes for providing “erroneous” information on NSA data collection, but the director is still under scrutiny for his inconsistent statements.
In late June, Clapper wrote a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee to correct his response to a question he was asked during a March 12 hearing. When asked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) whether the National Security Agency “collected data on millions of Americans,” Clapper lied to Congress and said the NSA does not do this.
“No, sir, not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, collect, but not wittingly,” he said in March. But after NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s controversial surveillance programs in June, Clapper told NBC News that he gave the “least untruthful answer possible” at the hearing, and said the question he was asked was unfair. He said it was akin to being asked “when he was going to stop beating his wife.”
But now the national intelligence director is telling another story. In a failed attempt to minimize criticism against him, Clapper sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 21, stating that his “response was clearly erroneous – for which I apologize.” He claims that he misunderstood the original question.
(More at the link.)
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