Obama administraton releases details on Senate briefings

[ProSense]

White House Plays Down Data Program

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and DAVID E. SANGER

<...>

Meanwhile, senior Obama administration officials, including the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and of national intelligence, have held 13 classified hearings and briefings for members of Congress since 2009 to explain the broad authority they say they have to sweep up electronic records for national security purposes, a senior administration official said Saturday.

<...>

The list of briefings begins on May 12, 2009, with a classified hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee involving Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the head of the United States Cyber Command, and David S. Kris, assistant attorney general for national security.

On Feb. 14, 2011, all senators were offered the opportunity to discuss the broad authority under the Patriot Act with the director of national intelligence, Mr. Clapper; the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III; and General Alexander. Mr. Mueller spoke to the House Republican Conference on May 13, 2011, and to the House Democratic Caucus on May 24, 2011.

On Feb. 8, 2011, Senators Dianne Feinstein of California, the chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the ranking Republican on the panel, invited every senator to a briefing with Mr. Clapper and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to discuss expiring provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/us/politics/officials-say-congress-was-fully-briefed-on-surveillance.html

Transcript of the President's comments on the NSA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022971130

[BenzoDia]

1. Link not working. I think there needs to be an 'l' at the end of it.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Indeed. Link here:

.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/us/politics/officials-say-congress-was-fully-briefed-on-surveillance.html?_r=0

[ProSense]

4. Fixed, thanks. n/t

[FarCenter]

2. If you watch CSPAN, you can see how lightly committee hearings are attended

Senators and Representatives don't have time to bother with this stuff -- they are busy meeting with lobbyists and raising money.

[ProSense]

5. A lot of Republicans missed the Benghazi briefings. n/t

[delrem]

6. Theme: spreading the blame.

But the blame is being spread back to Nixon, and esp. to W., as well as across to Congress and Senate.

There's something fucking obscene about how the blame is being spread back to W., with charges that R's are being hypocritical if they admonish Obama.

There's something more obscene about how because the really blistering evil of this goes back to W., so it shouldn't be unexpected to be continuing into Obama's second term.

This isn't funny. It isn't humorous at all.

[ProSense]

8. What the hell does that have to do with the fact that there were briefings? n/t

[freshwest]

7. I wonder how their 'recollection' will be.

[ProSense]

9. If they went. n/t

[Union Scribe]

10. Sure is a lot of scrambling for such unimportant old news. nt