Congress, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

An Inconvenient Truth: Members of Congress Go Silent Over Prior False Testimony On Surveillance

16-28The Republican and Democratic parties have achieved a bipartisan purpose in uniting against the public’s need to know about massive surveillance programs and the need to redefine privacy in a more surveillance friendly image. They have also united in attacking Snowden as a traitor and seeking his prosecution for telling the public about the program. In the midst of this full-court press to lull the public back into sleep over civil liberties, the members will face a slightly inconvenient problem: possible perjury. These members have repeatedly called for perjury and contempt prosecutions of officials who have given false or misleading testimony like Eric Holder. However, they have a little problem with Obama officials who seem to have given false or intentionally misleading testimony over the surveillance of citizens. The problem is that these members want the scandal (and the public) to go away. Many of them knew at the time that the public was being told untrue things in these hearings. It will only be embarrassing to now address the falsehoods fed to the public in their presence and with their knowledge. In other words, they were all lying to the public and, under our new relativistic world, a lie told by everyone is treated as the truth.


220px-James_R._Clapper_official_portraitConsider the testimony of James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, to the Senate in March. Clapper said unequivocally that the N.S.A. was not gathering data on millions of Americans. That is obviously false and Senators hearing the testimony knew that the public was being lied to.

How about this exchange?

Senator Wyden: “Does the N.S.A. collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

Clapper: “No, sir. Not wittingly.”

However, it was done “wittingly” when you demand all of the calls for all citizens, right? Clapper will argue that he simply defines collecting data differently from the vast majority of humanity. However, courts regularly reject such subjective views of the truth. The point of the answer was to assure the public that they have nothing to worry about — the same message being given by members now that the truth has come out. Clapper’s testimony was for the public to hear and believe — even though Senators knew it to be untrue. Keep in mind that we have two surveillance programs now being reported — one collecting all call information and one involving email data.

Clapper has recently said that his testimony was “the least untrue” statement that he could make. Yet, of course that would still make it an untrue statement — which most people call a lie and lawyers call perjury. Indeed, when Roger Clemens was prosecuted for untrue statements before Congress, he was not told of the option to tell the least untrue statement on steroid use.

What is remarkable is that, while such hearings are presented as spontaneous, senators routinely send their questions in advance to officials. That is what Wyden did with Clapper so he knew this question was coming. Afterward, Wyden gave him a chance to correct his statement and he did not.

Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the N.S.A. director, has reportedly also given such false statements. N.S.A.’s general counsel, Rajesh De, called rumors of such spying merely “false myths” and that the suggestion that the “N.S.A. is spying on Americans at home and abroad with questionable or no legal basis.”

There is clearly an effort by Feinstein and others to ignore this testimony to avoid having to deal with their own culpability. The same was true with torture. Congressional members knew of the program while feigning outrage in public. They then worked with the White House to quash any hearings or investigations that would implicate their own involvement.

The result is that the Justice Department will continue to prosecute ordinary citizens for relatively small inconsistencies in testimony or statements to investigators. However, high-ranking officials in both branches will have a license to lie because it is not a lie when no one is willing to acknowledge the truth.

225px-LeninOur leaders have embraced that core view of Lenin that “A Lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

Source: NY Times

165 thoughts on “An Inconvenient Truth: Members of Congress Go Silent Over Prior False Testimony On Surveillance”

  1. Max-1,

    Your comment was in the spam filter. I suspect the doubled link triggered it. If you have a comment go missing, just say so and if one of the GB’s notices, we’ll check the spam filter (it has been misbehaving lately). No NSA required. However, sometimes WP just plain eats a comment too. Not often, but it has been known to happen.

  2. Cameron: “Well said Johnathan and keep it up. I’m sure you are on a serious Government watch list by now.”
    —————

    LOL, a picture of james Clapper AND Lenin in the same posting- oh yea, he’s on a list. The Professor is twitched.

  3. Dear Mr. Turley,
    If comments don’t go through, how do I petition the NSA for their copy?

  5. Stop Watching Us.
    https://optin.stopwatching.us/

    The revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance apparatus, if true, represent a stunning abuse of our basic rights. We demand the U.S. Congress reveal the full extent of the NSA’s spying programs.

    Dear Members of Congress,

    We write to express our concern about recent reports published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, and acknowledged by the Obama Administration, which reveal secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) on phone records and Internet activity of people in the United States.

    The Washington Post and the Guardian recently published reports based on information provided by an intelligence contractor showing how the NSA and the FBI are gaining broad access to data collected by nine of the leading U.S. Internet companies and sharing this information with foreign governments. As reported, the U.S. government is extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time. As a result, the contents of communications of people both abroad and in the U.S. can be swept in without any suspicion of crime or association with a terrorist organization.

    Leaked reports also published by the Guardian and confirmed by the Administration reveal that the NSA is also abusing a controversial section of the PATRIOT Act to collect the call records of millions of Verizon customers. The data collected by the NSA includes every call made, the time of the call, the duration of the call, and other “identifying information” for millions of Verizon customers, including entirely domestic calls, regardless of whether those customers have ever been suspected of a crime. The Wall Street Journal has reported that other major carriers, including AT&T and Sprint, are subject to similar secret orders.

    This type of blanket data collection by the government strikes at bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protect citizens’ right to speak and associate anonymously, guard against unreasonable searches and seizures, and protect their right to privacy.

    We are calling on Congress to take immediate action to halt this surveillance and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s and the FBI’s data collection programs. We call on Congress to immediately and publicly:

    Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
    Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;
    Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.
    Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    Sincerely,

    Add your name here https://optin.stopwatching.us/

  6. We are now to the point where you don’t watch the Internet. The Internet watches you.

  8. http://thehill.com/video/house/305047-dem-rep-lawmakers-learned-significantly-more-about-surveillance-programs-in-nsa-briefing (with video)

    NSA revelations only ‘the tip of the iceberg,’ says Dem lawmaker
    By Daniel Strauss – 06/12/13 12:51 PM ET

    The federal surveillance programs revealed in media reports are just “the tip of the iceberg,” a House Democrat said Wednesday.

    Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) said lawmakers learned “significantly more” about the spy programs at the National Security Agency (NSA) during a briefing on Tuesday with counterterrorism officials.

    “What we learned in there,” Sanchez said, “is significantly more than what is out in the media today.”

    Lawmakers are barred from revealing the classified information they receive in intelligence briefings, and Sanchez was careful not to specify what members might have learned about the NSA’s work.

    “I can’t speak to what we learned in there, and I don’t know if there are other leaks, if there’s more information somewhere, if somebody else is going to step up, but I will tell you that I believe it’s the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

    Sanchez’s remarks on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” came a day after House lawmakers were briefed by national security officials on clandestine data collection programs.

    The briefing was meant to convince lawmakers that the surveillance programs are legal and necessary in fighting counterterrorism — an argument President Obama and other administration officials have made.

    Lawmakers demanded the briefings after revelations last week about the NSA’s collection of phone records and Internet data, and Sanchez said lawmakers were “astounded” by what they heard.

    “I think it’s just broader than most people even realize, and I think that’s, in one way, what astounded most of us, too,” Sanchez said of the briefing.

  9. Well said Johnathan and keep it up.

    I’m sure you are on a serious Government watch list by now.

  12. The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, NY Chapter, in the federal district court in New York is a nice simple logical Complaint. There is a federal statute which says that any American can go to court and ask a judge to hold a federal agency accountable to the law. In this case the plaintiff is asking a federal judge to tell some federal agencies and their big shot directors that they must follow federal statutes and the constitution when it comes to their MegaDate program. The statute which the lawsuit relies upon is straight and narrow. A federal judge is obligated to declare a practice that violates a federal statute or a constitutional protection to be illegal. Here the statute which the various agencies purport to rely upon when they gather up your private information limits their ability to only spy on foreigners. And, the United States Constitution prohibits the spying upon American citizens— your right to privacy and freedom from search and seizure is protected by the first and Fourth Amendments. The ACLU succinctly pleads this. I would add that the Ninth Amendment protects our privacy as well. But hey, BarkinDog is not suing yet.

    Here is the text of the stature upon which the ACLU relies in their Complaint in the case of ACLU v. Clapper et al. :

    To the extent necessary to decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action. The reviewing court shall—

    (1) compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed; and

    (2) hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions found to be—
    (A) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law;

    (B) contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity;

    (C) in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right;

    (D) without observance of procedure required by law;

    (E) unsupported by substantial evidence in a case subject to sections 556 and 557 of this title or otherwise reviewed on the record of an agency hearing provided by statute; or

    (F) unwarranted by the facts to the extent that the facts are subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court.

    In making the foregoing determinations, the court shall review the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party, and due account shall be taken of the rule of prejudicial error.

  13. Americans Disapprove of Government Surveillance Programs
    Americans split on whether leaker did the right or wrong thing
    by Frank Newport

    PRINCETON, NJ — More Americans disapprove (53%) than approve (37%) of the federal government agency program that as part of its efforts to investigate terrorism obtained records from U.S. telephone and Internet companies to “compile telephone call logs and Internet communications.”

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/163043/americans-disapprove-government-surveillance-programs.aspx

  14. Bron,

    People actually do care and you can look up that info to see if it’s accurate. Even if no one else does, why can’t you? Why don’t you protest on your own. A libertarian doesn’t need to wait for other people to do something.

    I’ll try to link you to a poll about people who care. You can also check out the website, The world can’t wait.

    JIll

  15. Jill:

    from the chicago school of economics? a capitalist? OK if you say so.

    I honestly dont think many people really care. The few who post here do but I havent seen any real citizen outcry, people care more about American Idol and who is leading on Dancing with the Stars.

    Even some of my Objectivist “friends” yawn and say they are more worried about the IRS doings.

    I guess they figure all their info is out on Google and ole Eric the Brownshirt already sold to his boy Obama. So what is the big deal?

    I am actually surprised, I guess we really are at the end of the experiment.

    I guess all good things come to an end but without even a mild out cry?

    Maybe people are in shock and are waiting for a white night? It is really rather strange. What are the phone lines in DC doing? People arent really sending political email anymore, not for the last few days.

    Maybe the quiet is good? Anger rising?

    If you get some people together for a march on the capitol and the white house, I’ll bring my broom. I really am not interested in protesting though, I dont think it would do any good because I dont think people care.

    1. TS Eliot from the “Hollow Men”

      This is the way the world ends,
      The World Ends, the world ends,
      Not with a bang,
      But a whimper.

      Substitute “world” with constitution and we see the shspe of things to come.

  16. Bron,

    Why on earth would you take Obama at his word? Actions are all that anyone should ever consider for evaluating him. Obama is a capitalist from the Chicago School of Economics. He has worked to enrich the obscenely rich and he has thrown the poor under the bus. We are in the middle of a national emergency and everyone needs to quit worrying about ideology and pull our shit together to clearly understand what is happening.

    To put it in a dark humor–the citizens of the US are all under double secret probation by a consortium of govt. and business (usually referred to as fascism). But if you want to call it socialism, go ahead. As long as you will work to condemn this lawlessness with me, you and I can argue about the ideology later!

  17. Hmmmm, from Raw:

    “Michael Morell, the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, announced his resignation on Wednesday afternoon.

    “As much as I would selfishly like to keep Michael right where he is for as long as possible, he has decided to retire to spend more time with his family and to pursue other professional opportunities,” CIA Director John Brennan said in a statement.”

    He’s the guy that delivered the ‘Bin Laden determined to strike…’ memo to Bush, he’s been around during a lot of stuff and waist deep in it. Interesting timing. Maybe he doesn’t want to lie to a Congressional Committee. If he leaves immediately to visit Hong Kong or Iceland for a much needed vacation I’m gonna’ start thinking something suspicious is going on. 🙂

    – See more at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/12/cias-deputy-director-michael-morell-resigns/#sthash.5Txv3jq6.dpuf

  18. Since we seem to have entered, at least partially, into a 1984 sort of world. Here is a statement from that book. “If you want to see the future of humanity, it is a boot stomping on a face forever.” Four years ago I wrote a 6000 word essay entitled orwells boot. Enter those two words into any search engine, and my article will be, after paid links, #1 on the list of out 1 to 2 million hits.

    You might find the 1/2 hour read to be informative. This link in the article
    http://xfoolnature.org/?p=10 is a two hour read and is the result of the positive response to orwells boot, and a fair amount of research and thought

    Criticism that consists of information (links) and logic that shows where I may have been in error is definitely welcome. Name calling will be ignored.

  19. Also, Bron, actions speak louder than words.

    Cheney says he’s a hero when his actions were that of a traitor.

  20. Then that’s an oligarchical form (like fascism), but it isn’t socialism. Not even close.

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