NYT Editorial Board Blasts White House As 'Outright Liars' On Surveillance
In an editorial published Thursday, editor Andrew Rosenthal opens with the question, "Does anyone still believe anything the Obama administration has to say about surveillance?"
It's certainly a question worth asking, especially in the wake of numerous disclosures from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The leaks revealed everything from the intelligence agency's collection of millions of Verizon phone records to the spying on numerous world leaders, and were often followed with repeated denials by the Obama administration and the intelligence community.
Rosenthal addresses numerous misleading statements in his editorial, but perhaps most apt is how Intelligence Chief James Clapper constructs his words so carefully as to "deny something that was basically true."
Rosenthal also writes:
The White House press secretary, Jay Carney said, "The president assured [Merkel] that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications" of the chancellor." Please note: IS not monitoring and WILL NOT monitor. The allegation, unaddressed, was that the United States HAD been monitoring her calls (until it was caught in the act).
Sadly, this is not the first time we've had this problem of obfuscation, misdirection, cover up and even outright lying about surveillance.