Top intelligence officials called to testify on NSA surveillance programs

[bemildred]

Source: WaPo

Two of the nation’s top intelligence officials were summoned to testify Tuesday before a House committee examining possible changes to a 35-year-old law intended to allow electronic surveillance of people involved in espionage or terrorism on behalf of foreign powers.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence called James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, and Army Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, to discuss potential changes to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as part of what the committee called an effort to “increase transparency and rebuild Americans’ confidence” in NSA programs.

The hearing, after nearly five months of controversy and debate, comes as Congress grapples with what to do about the NSA’s controversial program to collect the phone records of nearly every American. The two starkest possibilities: endorse it or shut it down.

Also appearing before the committee Tuesday were Deputy Attorney General James Cole, Deputy NSA Director Chris Inglis and a panel of private legal experts.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-officials-called-to-testify-on-nsa-surveillance-programs/2013/10/29/e9e9c250-40b7-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html

[HooptieWagon]

1. Let the lying commence.... nt

[bemildred]

2. My wife was listening to the radio while I was watching "They Live".

There was some news show saying: "Obama Administration Considering Stopping Surveillance of Foreign Leaders".

After a couple minutes she comes in the room and asks me if I'm all right because I'm still laughing.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

14. No, he really means it.

[dballance]

5. Exactly.

Since none of those top officials have been prosecuted for lying under oath to Congress they will continue to lie. That won't stop until they're held accountable and no one in the Congress or the White House really wants to do that. They all want the intelligence gathered by the NSA. These hearings are just a carnival side-show to placate the masses.

[Blue_Tires]

3. No plans to address listening in on foreign heads of state??

[bemildred]

4. See post #2, just heard they are thinking about it. nt

[christx30]

6. I was thinking about helping my friend move.

I'm not going to do it. But I was thinking about it.

[bemildred]

7. Why? nt

[Indi Guy]

8. I think the officials at Spook Central severely underestimated the will of the American people...

...to preserve what's left of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights.

[bemildred]

9. They severely overestimated what they could get away with.

Because they are all quite full of themselves.

But they do seem to realize they have a real problem now, and one they know nothing about how to deal with. Alexander looks like a deer in the headlights. This is the DC bubble.

[haikugal]

10. We need code pink with hat pins....

[LiberalLovinLug]

11. They have no one to blame but themselves for this headache

If one looks at it (spying on allies) without judgement and from the point of view that EVERYBODY does it (or would if they could) and that its inevitable as technology advances.......

Snowden did not rise up like a Frankenstein for no reason. Like a lot of clusterfucks in America, it can be traced back to Bush/Cheney regime. The illegal wiretapping of American citizens and illegal data retrieval orders for Internet service providers and phone companies incubated someone like Snowden to rise. Snowden was not, seemingly, all that infuriated with phone-tapping foreign leaders. It was the intrusion on his fellow American citizens that irked his ire. That was his main concern.

The international spying revelations was a byproduct of his initial releases. IMO if Bush/Cheney had not been so brazen with stealing American's personal private communications, a Snowden would not have risen to now throw a monkey wrench into the whole works.

[bemildred]

12. Yes. I said that in June when I first heard of this mess.

It's infantile, it's ignorant, and it's stupid to be doing this in the first place. It's very expensive and there is no upside to this sort of excess.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

13. Whose turn is it going to be to give "the least untruthful answer"?