'60 Minutes': NSA Good, Snowden Bad [View all]

[n2doc]

by SARA MORRISON

As if that whole retracted Benghazi report and the Amazon commercial/drone reveal didn't undermine 60 Minutes' credibility enough in the last few weeks, here's another gem: a report on how the NSA has simply been misunderstood by all those Snowden leaks and is a good guy, really.

The segment was presented by John Miller (who is rumored to be up for a "top counterterrorism or intelligence role" in the NYPD, which has a fine track record when it comes to not infringing on our civil liberties), who opened with:

Full disclosure: I once worked in the office of the director of National Intelligence, where I saw firsthand how secretly the NSA operates.

Because as long as you tell us up front about your huge conflict of interest, it's totally fine that you have one, right?

Anyway, that should give you a pretty good idea of what came next

more

http://www.thewire.com/national/2013/12/60-minutes-nsa-good-snowden-bad/356174/


This was telling:

As the behind-the-scenes report tells us, Alexander came to 60 Minutes and asked them to do the segment. Miller and his crew were supervised at all times by a team of "minders" -- as were their interview subjects. When one analyst says something an off-camera minder thinks might be classified, Miller quickly volunteers to change the subject. Alexander asks for "time outs" before he answers certain questions.