James Clapper Issues Non-Denial Denial Of Greenwald's Story About Surveillance Of Muslim-Americans

[KoKo]

James Clapper Issues Non-Denial Denial Of Greenwald's Story About Surveillance Of Muslim-Americans

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140709/06462427821/james-clapper-issues-non-denial-denial-greenwalds-story-about-surveillance-muslim-americans.shtml
by Mick Masnick
from the want-to-try-that-again? dept

We already wrote about Glenn Greenwald's big story concerning how the FBI has been spying on prominent Muslim American politicians, lawyers and civil rights activists. If you follow this stuff closely, you may have heard that Greenwald was originally supposed to publish that story last week, but held off at the last minute due to some "new information" from the government. This resulted in some silly and ill-informed conspiracy theories, but in the article Greenwald explains what actually happened:

The Justice Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this story, or for clarification about why the five men’s email addresses appear on the list. But in the weeks before the story was published, The Intercept learned that officials from the department were reaching out to Muslim-American leaders across the country to warn them that the piece would contain errors and misrepresentations, even though it had not yet been written.

Prior to publication, current and former government officials who knew about the story in advance also told another news outlet that no FISA warrant had been obtained against Awad during the period cited. When The Intercept delayed publication to investigate further, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence refused to confirm or deny the claim, or to address why any of the men’s names appear on the FISA spreadsheet. Prior to 2008, however, FISA required only an authorization from the attorney general—not a court warrant—for surveillance against Americans located overseas. Awad frequently travelled to the Middle East during the timeframe of his surveillance.

The fact that it was out warning people that the story was inaccurate before anything had even been written is... quite telling. Also, the fact that it only seemed to focus on the lack of a FISA warrant (and against one individual) seems like the standard form of the intelligence community choosing their words especially carefully to say one thing, while implying something else entirely. Now that the report has actually come out, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has issued a statement that is more of the same. You will note, for instance, that it does not deny spying on the five named individuals -- only that it doesn't spy on people because of their political, religious or activist views:

More: An INTERESTING ARTICLE...READ MORE AT:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140709/06462427821/james-clapper-issues-non-denial-denial-greenwalds-story-about-surveillance-muslim-americans.shtml

[Aerows]

1. James Clapper is so full of shit

he can smell his own asshole by taking a breath.

That man is toxic.

[WillyT]

2. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[DirkGently]

3. KNR