We Can't Stop Another Snowden or Manning: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
Note: Read Scott Shackford's post on this profile and a stinging reaction from Conor Freidersdorf of The Atlantic.
The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tells The Daily Beast's Eli Lake:
"We will never ever be able to guarantee that there will not be an Edward Snowden or another Chelsea Manning because this is a large enterprise composed of human beings with all their idiosyncrasies."
He also suggests he'd beat the shit out of Snowden if put in the same cell with the guy. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has suggested that Clapper be put away for lying to the Senate about collecting data on Americans on American soil.
"Senator Paul says I should get to know [Snowden] by being in the same prison cell with him, which I don't think is a good idea….Probably wouldn't be in Mr. Snowden's best interest."
And the 72-year-old vet of the military and intelligence services cops that he just doesn't understand Snowden's motivations:
"Maybe if I had I'd understand him better because I have trouble understanding what he did or what he'd do," the director said. "From my standpoint, the damage he's done. I could almost accept it or understand it if this were simply about his concerns about so-called domestic surveillance programs. But what he did, what he took, what he has exposed, goes way, way, way beyond the so-called domestic surveillance programs."
A coupla weeks back, Clapper told the Beast that Americans would have totally gotten behind super-secret surveillance if only he'd had the foresight to tell them about it ahead of time.
Note: Read Scott Shackford's post on this profile and a stinging reaction from Conor Freidersdorf of The Atlantic.
Regarding the prevention of another Snowden, NSA whistleblower William Binney told Reason TV that there were ways to prevent the sort of heist Snowden pulled, but it would require a more decentralized and less-hubristic approach to intelligence. Binney and other NSA lifers brought their concerns about mismanagement and illegal surveillance to Congress and the Department of Defense in the early 2000s and were repaid with…a subsequent investigation against them by the FBI. Hear his story:
