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Intelligence director Clapper slams media leaks, offers declassified PRISM explanation |
June 09, 2013
The Washington Post and Guardian let a genie out of a bottle, and now the Obama administration's national security boss is making an effort to cram it back in.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
Via a statement Saturday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper ripped into the media for publishing classified documents relating to the PRISM surveillance program. Clapper assailed "reckless disclosures of intelligence community measures used to keep Americans safe," and also released a two-plus page explainer [PDF] on PRISM, noting it's not "an undisclosed collection or data mining program" that targets American citizens but rather a perfectly legal "internal government computer system" used for the authorized collection of foreign intelligence under court supervision.
"In a rush to publish, media outlets have not given the full context—including the extent to which these programs are overseen by all three branches of government—to these effective tools," wrote Clapper in the statement. He goes on to write that "significant misimpressions" have resulted from PRISM media coverage, but that he can't correct inaccuracies without revealing classified information. From there, he explains his declassified explainer should "help dispel some of the myths and add necessary context to what has been published."
"In a rush to publish, media outlets have not given the full context—including the extent to which these programs are overseen by all three branches of government—to these effective tools," wrote Clapper.
In the declassified material, Clapper explains that PRISM is authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and that the government doesn't "unilaterally obtain information from the servers of U.S. electronic communication service providers." All information is collected with FISA court approval, he writes, and with the knowledge of service providers following a written directive from the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence (a post, lest we forget, that's currently held by Clapper himself).
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Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2041120/intelligence-director-clapper-slams-media-leaks-offers-declassified-prism-explanation.html#tk.rss_all
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