According RT on Wednesday, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is a hypocrite and that he and his supposed accomplices should return any classified documents he still has.
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in an unusually contentious Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that Snowden’s decision to leak a trove of classified NSA documents to the press has hurt US security and tipped off suspected terrorists on potentially safer ways to communicate.
Clapper, who told the same committee the NSA did not collect information on millions of Americans months before being proven wrong, also insinuated that Snowden had help.
“Snowden claims that he has won and that his mission is accomplished,” Clapper said during his opening remarks to the committee, as quoted by a transcript published by the Washington Post.
“If that is so, I call on him and accomplices to facilitate the return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been exposed to prevent even more damage to US security.”
The director did not elaborate on what he meant by “accomplices,” but a spokesman insisted he was “referring to anyone who is assisting Edward Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs.”
A number of journalists on Twitter interpreted that as a threat to Glenn Greenwald, Barton Gellman, Laura Poitras, and the number of other reporters who have published information based on the Snowden documents.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) was among the visibly frustrated. Wyden is the same lawmaker who asked Clapper in March about massive data collection programs and scolded Clapper Wednesday, accusing top intelligence officials or partaking in a “culture of misinformation” when questioned about the programs Snowden revealed.
“This committee can’t do oversight if we can’t get direct answers,” Wyden said, adding that international trust in the FBI, CIA, and NSA “has been seriously undermined by senior officials’ reckless reliance on secret interpretations of the law and battered by years MORE INFORMATION...........
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in an unusually contentious Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that Snowden’s decision to leak a trove of classified NSA documents to the press has hurt US security and tipped off suspected terrorists on potentially safer ways to communicate.
Clapper, who told the same committee the NSA did not collect information on millions of Americans months before being proven wrong, also insinuated that Snowden had help.
“Snowden claims that he has won and that his mission is accomplished,” Clapper said during his opening remarks to the committee, as quoted by a transcript published by the Washington Post.
“If that is so, I call on him and accomplices to facilitate the return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been exposed to prevent even more damage to US security.”
The director did not elaborate on what he meant by “accomplices,” but a spokesman insisted he was “referring to anyone who is assisting Edward Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs.”
A number of journalists on Twitter interpreted that as a threat to Glenn Greenwald, Barton Gellman, Laura Poitras, and the number of other reporters who have published information based on the Snowden documents.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) was among the visibly frustrated. Wyden is the same lawmaker who asked Clapper in March about massive data collection programs and scolded Clapper Wednesday, accusing top intelligence officials or partaking in a “culture of misinformation” when questioned about the programs Snowden revealed.
“This committee can’t do oversight if we can’t get direct answers,” Wyden said, adding that international trust in the FBI, CIA, and NSA “has been seriously undermined by senior officials’ reckless reliance on secret interpretations of the law and battered by years MORE INFORMATION...........
No comments:
Post a Comment