OPINION:
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper has lied so many times to Congress and to the American people about spying on us that he should be indicted and imprisoned.
One of his lies was to deny that NSA leaker Edward Snowden could access an individual’s detailed communications. Anyone who has ever worked with a database knows it can be manipulated for details on command. This lie was proved by Mr. Snowden’s release of detailed data. Mr. Clapper then claimed this was done only by warrant and only to foreigners. It has subsequently been shown that ordinary programmers called up detailed communications to spy on wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and others, all against the rules.
Now we find that such warrantless access — reversing the Bush safeguards — was secretly sanctioned by the Obama administration. Not so curiously, the timing was late 2011, when the presidential campaign was warming up. I always wondered why the Democrats seemed to be one step ahead of the Republican challenger’s plans and speeches — could it be that the NSA was gathering information from communications by Republican strategists and donors? Congress should press immediately for the verbatim records of those whose communications were intercepted. To whom were they forwarded?
When coupled with the IRS prevention of conservatives from organizing and soliciting funds from 2010 on, illegally releasing tax records, etc., it is clear that the Obama administration is creating an authoritarian regime by disenfranchising and harassing any opposition.
MICHAEL HERBERS
Silver Spring
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