Intelligence chief Clapper: I gave ‘least untruthful’ answer on U.S. spying

[Xipe Totec]

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is really struggling to explain why he told Congress in March (see video above) that the National Security Agency does not intentionally collect any kind of data on millions of Americans. His latest take: It's an unfair question, he said, like "When are you going to stop beating your wife?" And it seems to depend on the meaning of "collect."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/intel-chief-clapper-gave-least-untruthful-answer-u-164742798.html

It reminded me of another explanation of a carefully parsed statement:

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

[morningfog]

1. I see a lie. Keep tugging this thread.

[Life Long Dem]

2. Trying to make something out of Clapper not clarifying his answer

Sigh... how pathetic. Attack the person and not the subject. I see the same shit here on DU when someone is wrong they attack the OP.

[madokie]

4. I've got the scars to prove it

[Xipe Totec]

12. Reflect much? nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Reminds me of ..."it's one of those "gotcha" questions"

and that's not fair...waaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[randome]

5. In the case of phone metadata...

...you can't select only the numbers you want until you have run the pattern matching software on the entire set of numbers.

It's analogous to Verizon handing over a detachable hard drive with all the data on it. NSA then runs their software, which copies the numbers that match the pattern and include a foreign origination or destination.

That is not the same thing as 'collecting' all phone numbers if the only numbers that are culled are the ones that meet the criteria.

You can't select only the numbers you want until you know which numbers you want.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[Melinda]

6. From the video in Op (Senator Wyden's exchange w/Clapper):

"The reason I'm asking the question is, having served on the committee now for a dozen years, I don't really know what a dossier is in this context. So what I wanted to see is if you could give me a yes or no answer to the question: [font=8]Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"[/font]

Clapper: "No, sir."

Wyden: "It does not."

Clapper: "Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly."

----------------------------

Really.

[Blue Owl]

7. Clap on, Clap off...

THE CLAPPER!

[wandy]

8. And it seems to depend on the meaning of "collect." I just knew something like this.........

was going to happen. Any takers on where this goes next?

It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/1998/09/bill_clinton_and_the_meaning_of_is.html

[Dragonfli]

9. Is it an unfair question to ask, "when did you stop beating your wife" when you never stopped?

They never stopped re-issuing blanket "warrants" to intentionally collect every bit of data on every single American kept for them by at least Verizon if not all carriers.

To claim it is unfair to ask about your lies claiming you never struck your wife after reading a recent police report on your latest beating in a long string of them is understandable for a wife beater caught in the headlights - but they are still the lies of a lying liar that just got caught beating his wife.

[think]

10. It's best to both watch the video and read the article to put things in context

The video sets up the scene for a another recent interview this past Sunday with Clapper and Andrea Mitchell where the statement is made about telling the "least untruthful thing" which is at the very end of this article.

But he did say it and it is in there....

[Laelth]

11. Who wants to bet Clapper gets to be the fall guy?

Gracious! This is not going well for him.

-Laelth

[BlueCheese]

13. The least untruthful answer would have been "Yes."

[BlueCheese]

14. How can they claim the program has congressional oversight...

... when they are baldly lying to Congress about it when asked a direct question?

Clapper's incredibly lame rationalization notwithstanding, that is clearly a lie, and a very important lie. It really shows how much contempt the people responsible for the public on this issue.

[reformist2]

15. So, does this guy get a pass on lying to Congress?