Greenwald Mocks NSA ‘Robust Oversight’ - Congress ‘Being Forced To Learn About NSA In Our Reporting'

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69. Wyden issued a statement a few days following Snowden's disclosure.

The Clapper testimony was in March, the Guardian broke the story in June.

I believe Wyden did not want to be accused of ambushing Clapper, so he furnished Clapper the question before hand.

“One of the most important responsibilities a Senator has is oversight of the intelligence community. This job cannot be done responsibly if Senators aren’t getting straight answers to direct questions. When NSA Director Alexander failed to clarify previous public statements about domestic surveillance, it was necessary to put the question to the Director of National Intelligence. So that he would be prepared to answer, I sent the question to Director Clapper’s office a day in advance. After the hearing was over my staff and I gave his office a chance to amend his answer. Now public hearings are needed to address the recent disclosures and the American people have the right to expect straight answers from the intelligence leadership to the questions asked by their representatives.”

http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-statement-responding-to-director-clappers-statements-about-collection-on-americans

Even so, I think Sen. Feinstein and others did accuse him of ambushing the Director.

In any event, the point is that Wyden knew he was being lied to, he knew it would continue, and he knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

Those folks here that still say Snowden should have gone to Wyden instead of the press are living in a fantasy world. Telling Wyden would have accomplished exactly nothing since Wyden already knew and was powerless to do anything.

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