eff.org: The NSA’s Word Games Explained: How the Government Deceived Congress in the Debate over Surveillance Powers

eff.org: The NSA’s Word Games Explained: How the Government Deceived Congress in the Debate over Surveillance Powers by Kurt Opsahl and Trevor Timm:

ANDREA MITCHELL: “Why do you need every telephone number? Why is it such a broad vacuum cleaner approach?”

JAMES CLAPPER: “Well, you have to start someplace.”—NBC Meet the Press, this past Sunday

Concerned about the surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans, last year Senator Ron Wyden asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Jr. a simple question: “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

Wyden had good reason to worry. As a member of the intelligence committee he had access to classified information and had been warning from the Senate floor that the American people would be “shocked” to find out how the government was interpreting the FISA Amendments Act and the PATRIOT Act in secret.

DNI Clapper’s answer was simple: “No, sir … not wittingly.”