‘Forgot’ NSA spying

Written By: - Date published: 12:38 pm, May 9th, 2015 - 15 comments
Categories: accountability, Spying, us politics - Tags: , ,

This guy must have attended the John Key School of Lying:

Attorney: Spy chief had ‘forgotten’ about NSA program when he misled Congress

Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper wasn’t lying when he wrongly told Congress in 2013 that the government does not “wittingly” collect information about millions of Americans, according to his top lawyer.

He just forgot.

“This was not an untruth or a falsehood. This was just a mistake on his part,” Robert Litt, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said during a panel discussion hosted by the Advisory Committee on Transparency on Friday.

“We all make mistakes.”

As far as I can tell the quoted piece is not satire. Satire, I believe, is irrelevant now, as the real world has far outgrown it. There was a time when public figures were held accountable for illegal activities and obvious lies, but that time is past.

15 comments on “‘Forgot’ NSA spying ”

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  1. ianmac 1
    9 May 2015 at 1:17 pm

    I guess the forgotten info is so big that there was a fair chance no one would be able to grasp it. A giant elephant in the room.

    The Patrot Act is due for renewal 1 June. Retrospective legitamising coming up?

  2. Tautoko Mangō Mata 2
    9 May 2015 at 1:30 pm

    Then James Clapper should be given the choice of a cell in prison or a secure unit for dementia sufferers.

  3. dukeofurl 3
    9 May 2015 at 2:16 pm

    He misled all right

    It was a specific question by a Senator who had previous knowledge of the secret program

    “SEN. RON WYDEN (D-Ore.): “This is for you, Director Clapper, again on the surveillance front. And I hope we can do this in just a yes or no answer because I know Senator Feinstein wants to move on. Last summer, the NSA director was at a conference, and he was asked a question about the NSA surveillance of Americans. He replied, and I quote here, ‘The story that we have millions or hundreds of millions of dossiers on people is completely false.’
    “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, does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

    At another time he didnt use the ‘forgot’ excuse but used the ‘least untruthful’ defense and by semantics which is what slippery Key does too.

    In an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, he said that “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner, by saying no,” though he also called his answer “too cute by half.” He indicated that his response to Wyden turned on a definition of “collect:” “There are honest differences on the semantics of what — when someone says ‘collection’ to me, that has a specific meaning, which may have a different meaning to him.”

    • emergency mike 3.1
      9 May 2015 at 3:21 pm

      Straight out of the John Key school of brain fades and personal definitions of words. Lying.

  4. Wensleydale 4
    9 May 2015 at 2:37 pm

    You know, it was embarrassing in high school when you hadn’t done your homework and the best you could cobble together when questioned about it was “Sorry Miss, I forgot.”

    When politicians and their spymasters are providing the same feeble excuses as lazy adolescent boys, the world is in a sorry state indeed. Thinking about the world my grandchildren will inherit scares me more than a little.

    • Thinkerr 4.1
      10 May 2015 at 8:36 am

      Putting it in context, though, you have to admit “Sorry, I forgot” is far more plausible than “Sorry, the dog ate my top-secret NSA spy report”.

  5. Draco T Bastard 5
    9 May 2015 at 3:02 pm

    Somewhat OT:

    A Private Net Is Just As Fundamental A Right As Freedom Of Speech

    The concept of politicians listening to every phonecall, every conversation, every search, every thought was unthinkable just two decades ago. When the Soviet Union collapsed and East Europe was freed from enslavement, the idea was that the citizens of Eastern Europe were supposed to enjoy Western liberty from that point on instead of having their every move monitored by a distrusting government. It was never supposed to be the other way around, that the Western world would copy the governments of Eastern Europe.

    And yet that is exactly what has happened. Western governments have gone over to mass surveillance of the population.

  6. emergency mike 6
    9 May 2015 at 3:44 pm

    In the same article Robert Litt, (their lawyer), claims that they immediately realized their mistake, but didn’t feel the need to mention it.

    “Litt, he said, also erred after the hearing by not sending a letter to the panel to correct the mistake.

    “I wish we’d done that at the time,” he said on Friday.”

    Just another whoopsie then. All gud.

  7. Reddelusion 7
    9 May 2015 at 8:28 pm

    Yawn, more john key hate, the left will never learn, the left days are numbered , this preoccupation with jk on every subject is simply the manifestation of the left, redundant policies and values that are no longer relevant , they have nothing to offer beyond idealist class clap trap, jk hate and a shrinking voting base who lack the intellectual honesty to move on but are slowly dying out

  8. HumPrac 8
    9 May 2015 at 9:13 pm

    Can someone please answer the following questions with regards to law:

    With our troops going into war, does this put the country into an official ‘state of war’. If it does not, what does it change with regards to law?
    If it does cause us to be in an official ‘state of war’, how could this affect NZers?
    Does the Prime Minister (or anyone else) obtain elevated power when NZ is at war?

  9. SMILIN 9
    9 May 2015 at 9:26 pm

    We really cant expect much in the way of truth for the people from the adolescent politicians like Key .Its all about who they are nothing to do with ” what was that system of govt I forgot”. answer,
    democracy
    He must have been chuffed having a member of the family touch down to give him a boost in the news and give him time to forget embarrassing the whole country.Bloody up himself prick that he is
    Whats a pony in gambling terms anyway $1000?should make a good sized fine all the tails he’s pulled

  10. Drowsy M. Kram 10
    9 May 2015 at 10:32 pm

    Drowsy’s gift of sleep to Reddelusion (yawn) – I don’t hate my Prime Minister, just WONDER at his value(s) and the vision his Cabinet has for New Zealanders.

    NAct Magpies (with apologies to Denis Glover, who would understand)

    When John and Joyce took their seats
    the public’s assets bled
    and Trust me TPP I’m not a 1% lackey
    The keywee said

    Let’s mine and sell this beautiful land
    Clean rivers won’t keep us fed
    and Trust me GCSB will catch another Zaoui
    The keywee said

    John’s minders dug their dirt
    and Judith’s ethics fled
    and Trust me Smith Wong Dunn Williamson Banksie
    The keywee said

    Year in year out they schemed
    while inequality grew overhead
    and Trust me land-Lords will fix housing poverty
    The keywee said

    The dollar is king, casinos (and flags) for sale
    By a pony-tail puller we’re led
    and Trust me johnkey trust me cuppa tea?
    The keywee said

    The Govt’s still there, and Hollow Men
    still hold sway
    and Trust me the truth’s just a left-wing conspiracy
    The keywees say.

  11. Sans Cle 11
    11 May 2015 at 1:39 am

    Was Germany’s spying on its EU neighbours for the U.S. discussed already?
    Spotted this in Guardian weekly, but had missed it earlier.
    Sheez…..

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