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Curated research library of TV news clips regarding the NSA, its oversight and privacy issues, 2009-2014

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Primary curation & research: Robin Chin, Internet Archive TV News Researcher; using Internet Archive TV News service.

Speakers

Lindsey Graham
U.S. Senator (R-SC),
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
Graham: So when this report comes out, if it suggests that gaining good information made everything all right, I reject that because in the effort of gaining information you violated, I think, the spirit of who we are. As to the individuals involved, they should be protected because this came from the top level of the government. And to the people in the bush administration, I understand being under siege not wanting another 9/11. We all make mistakes but America is a great place because we air our dirty laundry.
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Lindsey Graham
U.S. Senator (R-SC),
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
Graham: If you want to reform the NSA program to make it more transparent and to protect privacy, that makes sense to me. But what the CIA did is not equivalent. The CIA tried to protect itself. The CIA apparently tried to gain information from a Congressional investigation to mold the outcome to protect itself. Where is the outrage on Capitol Hill?
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John McCain
U.S. Senator (R-AZ),
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
McCain: I disagree with the minority report in that the minority report may say that there was some information gained. That cannot compare to the damage that it did to the reputation and image of the United States of America and increase the ability of jihadists and extremists to recruit people who want to destroy the United States of America and everything they stand for. It is a stain on America's honor.
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John McCain
U.S. Senator (R-AZ),
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
McCain: We would be glad to discuss some way of investigation conducted by people who have credibility of the American people, whether that's inside the congress, whether it's a special prosecutor, whether it's -- whatever it is. We would be amenable to most any form, as long as it’s credible with the American people and Congress. It can't come from inside the agency whose Director directly lied to the American people on at least two occasions that I know of about this whole issue.
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John McCain
U.S. Senator (R-AZ),
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
McCain: This has got to do with the fundamentals of our constitution and the division of power in the checks and balances that are supposed to govern the way – that are supposed to be the dictates of how we govern this country. And if you have something like this going on, how can the American people be confident that our intelligence agencies are carrying out their constitutional responsibilities and not acting like a rogue agency?
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John McCain
U.S. Senator (R-AZ),
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
McCain: They will cite several instances where the information gained led to the foiling of terrorist plots. One, I've heard counter information about these allegations, but I can't cite them until they are made public. And the other aspect of this that the minority report does really get into, is that when someone is enduring physical pain, they will tell you anything they think you want to hear in order to have that pain stopped. So they're saying about some accurate information, they also got a plethora of inadequate information, totally false information because they wanted it stopped. That's understandable. Reporter: Are you speaking from personal experience speaks McCain: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes, absolutely.
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Barack Obama
President
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
Obama: On Brennan, and the CIA, the RDI report has been transmitted. The declassified version that will be released at the pleasure of the Senate Committee. I have full confidence in John Brennan. I think he has acknowledged and directly apologized to Senator Feinstein that CIA personnel did not properly handle an investigation as to how certain documents that were not authorized to be released to the Senate staff got somehow into the hands of Senate staff and it's clear from the IG report that some very poor judgment was shown in terms of how that was handled. Keep in mind though that John Brennan was the person that called for the IG report and he’s already stood up a task force (to make sure that lessons are learned and mistakes are resolved).
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Barack Obama
President
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
Obama: Even before I came into office, I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values. I understand why it happened. I think it's important when we look back to recall how afraid people were after the twin towers fell and the Pentagon had been hit in the plane in Pennsylvania had fallen and people did not know whether more attacks were imminent and there was enormous pressure (on our law enforcement and our national security teams to try to deal with this)
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Barack Obama
President
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
Obama: It's important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job with those folks had. A lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots but having said all that, we did some things that were wrong. And that is what that report reflects and that is the reason why after I took office one of the first things I did was to ban some of the extraordinary interrogation techniques that are the subject of that report.
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Barack Obama
President
CSPAN2 08/01/2014
Obama: My hope is that this report reminds us once again that the character of our country has to be measured in part not by what we do when things are easy but what we do when things are hard. And when we engaged in some of these enhanced interrogation techniques, techniques that I believe and I think any fair-minded person would believe were torture, we crossed a line and that needs to be, that needs to be understood and accepted and we have to as a country take responsibility for that so hopefully we don't do it again in the future.
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