Intelligence Chief Apologizes to Senate for 'Erroneous' Statement on NSA Data Collection
Source: Associated Press / Raw Story
@BreakingNews: RT @breakingpol: Intelligence chief apologizes to Senate for 'erroneous' statement on NSA data collection - @AP
Intelligence chief James Clapper apologizes to Congress for ‘erroneous’ NSA claims
By Dan Roberts, The Guardian
Monday, July 1, 2013 21:31 EDT
The US director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has attempted to head off criticism that he lied to Congress over the extent of government surveillance on American citizens, with a letter to senators in which he apologised for giving “erroneous” information.
Two weeks after telling NBC news that he gave the “least untruthful answer possible” at a hearing in March, Clapper wrote to the Senate intelligence committee to correct his response to a question about whether the National Security Agency “collected data on millions of Americans”.
During the orginal hearing on 12 March, Clapper answered “no, sir,” to a question by Senator Ron Wyden. It emerged later that Wyden had given him 24 hours notice of the question, and after the session ended, offered him an opportunity to correct it, which was declined.
After disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden detailing the collection of millions of American phone records, pressure grew on Clapper to clarify his remarks. In an interview with Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC, portions of which were first broadcast on 9 June, after Snowden’s leaks first emerged in the Guardian, Clapper explained the apparent inconsistency as a ploy to avoid revealing classified information.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/01/intelligence-chief-james-clapper-apologizes-to-congress-for-erroneous-nsa-claims
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/dni-chief-apologizes-erroneous-answer-nsa
DNI CHIEF APOLOGIZES FOR 'ERRONEOUS' ANSWER ON NSA
By KIMBERLY DOZIER
— Jul. 2 4:56 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Intelligence Director James Clapper is apologizing for telling Congress earlier this year that the National Security Agency does not collect data on millions of Americans.
In a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, Clapper says his answer was "clearly erroneous."
Leaks by NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden have revealed the NSA's sweeping data collection of U.S. phone records and some Internet traffic every day, though U.S. intelligence officials have said the programs are aimed at targeting foreigners and terrorist suspects overseas.
Clapper was asked in March if the NSA gathered "any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans." He answered that it didn't happen wittingly.
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Being part of the power-elite does have its privileges, don'cha know.
Pardon me while my head explodes. 
