Clapper Releases Declassified Documents on Extent of NSA Surveillance

Clapper Releases Declassified Documents on Extent of NSA Surveillance

Saturday, 21 Dec 2013 02:26 PM

By Sandy Fitzgerald

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/nsa-surveillance-james-clapper/2013/12/21/id/543183

Former President George W. Bush first authorized the National Security Agency's phone and Internet surveillance programs just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Saturday as part of declassified disclosures about the programs' beginnings.

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been fighting civil liberties advocates' demands for years to disclose details about the extent of the program — and on Friday, the Obama administration ordered some of the information about the beginnings of the programs to be declassified, reports The Wall Street Journal.

On Friday, Clapper and NSA Deputy Director Frances Fleisch also filed formal statements as part of a lawsuit brought against the government by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The EFF claims in its suit that the program, which continued under the Obama administration, conducts surveillance on "practically every American who uses the phone system or the Internet," but Clapper and Fleisch denied those claims.

"The NSA's collection of the content of communications under the TSP [or Terrorist Surveillance Program] was directed at international communications in which a participant was reasonably believed to be associated with al-Qaida or an affiliated organization," Clapper said in his statement.

The NSA still refuses to give detailed information about the surveillance, with Clapper saying that giving specifics could bring "exceptionally grave harm to national security."

The EFF and other civil liberties advocates have been trying for years to get information about U.S. surveillance programs, even before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden made off with countless NSA files and disclosed them to the media.

The program, back in the Bush days, was known as the President's Surveillance Program and the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Bush acknowledged the programs' existence in 2005, but first his administration and then Obama's have been fighting efforts to discuss the programs' details.

In May 2006, Bush transferred authority to collect the phone records to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. Authority to collect Internet data was transferred to the court in 2007.

Civil libertarians, though, disagree with government officials' claims that the court provides oversight that prevents surveillance abuses.

Clapper's disclosures are in direct conflict with testimony he gave Congress during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in March, in which he denied that the NSA collected any "type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans."

Shortly after his initial statements, Clapper apologized in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, saying that his testimony was "clearly erroneous."

Members of the House Judiciary Committee, including USA Patriot Act author Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., this week called for an investigation into whether the veteran official lied under oath, reports McClatchyDC.

Fellow Republican committee members Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Trent Franks, R-Ariz.; Blake Farenthold, R-Texas; Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.; Raul Labrador, R-Idaho; and Ted Poe, R-Texas, joined Sensenbrenner in the demand.

Just three months after Clapper had testified, Snowden came forth with his revelations that the NSA had been collecting databases of Americans' phone and Internet data, including both the sender and recipient lines of emails, telephone numbers dialed and lengths of call.

"Congressional oversight depends on truthful testimony — witnesses cannot be allowed to lie to Congress,” the Judiciary Committee members' letter reads.

James R. Clapper

James R. Clapper is the director at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the Barack Obama administration, and was an executive director, military intelligence programs for Booz Allen Hamilton.

Note: Edward Snowden was an employee for Booz Allen Hamilton, and leaked information about the National Security Agency (NSA).

Robert S. Osborne is the EVP & general counsel for Booz Allen Hamilton, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Booz Allen Hamilton is a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

Keith B. Alexander is a director at the National Security Agency (NSA), and a friend of Barbara G. Fast.

Barbara G. Fast is a friend of Keith B. Alexander, was a VP for the Boeing Company, and a VP for the CGI Group Inc.

CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.

Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.

Boeing Company is a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

W. James McNerney Jr. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Boeing Company, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

William M. Daley was a director Boeing Company, the chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration, and is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2013/12/commercial-club-of-chicago-members.html

R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Valerie B. Jarrett is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was a managing director at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Booz Allen Hamilton is a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Boeing Company.

Boeing Company is a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

Booz Allen Hamilton is a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

James R. Clapper was an executive director, military intelligence programs for Booz Allen Hamilton, and is the director at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the Barack Obama administration.