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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

Steve Kornacki
Host, Up with Steve Kornacki
MSNBCW 07/06/2014
Kornacki: The Washington Post lead story this morning is a big investigative report that is certain to prompt a lot of discussion and reaction in the days to come. The newspaper reports the NSA is intercepting data from many more ordinary users than from its intended targets. Nine out of every ten account holders were not the people the agency was trying to target. In nearly half of their surveillance files are from Americans. Former NSA analyst Edward Snowden provided the documents to the Post. However, the article also points out how much valuable intelligence has been picked up in the sweep. Quoting from the article here, there are discoveries of considerable intelligence value in the intercepted messages. Among the most valuable contents which the Post will not describe in detail to avoid interfering with on-going operations, are fresh revelations about a secret overseas nuclear project, double dealing by an ostensible ally, a military calamity that befell another friendly power, and the identities of aggressive intruders into U.S. Computer network.
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Dianne Feinstein
U.S. Senator (D-CA), Chairman of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
MSNBCW 08/06/2014
Kornacki: yesterday, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who's the chair of the Intelligence Committee, said the CIA has taken this report and over-redacted it. That it has abused its power to redact. That it is trying to keep too much secret. She said the redactions, quote, “obscure key facts that support the report's findings and conclusions.” And now, she's vowing not to release that final report until and unless the CIA and her committee can come up with some compromise. She's also sent a letter to the White House registering her complaints. Democratic Senator Carl Levin called the CIA's redactions totally unacceptable. quote, “the classification process should be used to protect sources and methods where the disclosure of information that could compromise national security, not to avoid disclosure or improper acts or embarrassing information.”
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Mark Udall
Senator (D-Colorado) Member of Select Committee on Intelligence
MSNBCW 08/06/2014
Kornacki: Colorado Senator Mark Udall, another democrat on the intelligence committee, vowed today to hold president Obama to his promise to declassify the report. Quote, “The CIA should not face its past with a redaction pen, and the white house must not allow it to do so.” The White House, for its part, defended the redactions this week, from that democratic criticism. Josh Earnest: There was a good faith effort that was made by the administration and by national security officials to evaluate this information and make redactions that are consistent with the need to protect national security, but also consistent with the president's clearly stated desire to be as transparent as possible about this. Kornacki: The President has said that we tortured some folks. He's also said that part of our national reckoning with that history is to make that history as transparent as possible in the hopes that putting it out on the public record will help ensure that it never happens again.
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James Clapper
Director of National Intelligence
MSNBCW 08/06/2014
Kornacki: Talk about what is potentially being left out of this report, as it's currently been redacted by the CIA. Because you have James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, who said even with these redactions, he estimated that 85% of that report that your committee put together still is in place, and he says it would still offer, quote, “a full view of the committee's report on the detention and interrogation program.” that the heart of that report is not lost in this. What do you say to that?
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Mark Udall
Senator (D-Colorado) Member of Select Committee on Intelligence
MSNBCW 08/06/2014
Kornacki: Senator, in your opinion, is the CIA, and the administration, for that matter, trying to protect itself, trying to protect the CIA with these redactions? Is that the motive here? Udall: I can only conclude that to be the case, Steve. I was taken aback by the President's comments the other day, but there's clearly an effort on the part of past and present CIA leadership to make it more difficult to understand what happened. We know what happened. We can be a bigger and better country once we acknowledge what happened. And it's in times of challenge and difficulty where we need to stand most by our values and by our constitution. My friend, Senator McCain, made that point this week. And that's why I'm not going to relent. I know Senator Feinstein is firm in her belief that there needs to be as much declassified as possible. We're America. We can embrace what happened and be the better for it.
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Mark Udall
Senator (D-Colorado) Member of Select Committee on Intelligence
MSNBCW 08/06/2014
Kornacki: Does president Obama want this report to come out? He's committed to it. You said you want to hold him to it. Do you think he really want this report to come out? Udall: I do. As you know, I called for Director Brennan to step down recently. And I don't relish making that call, but I think we need a leadership change at the CIA. The Director spied, under his leadership, the CIA spied on committee. Then he denied that they had done So. and then he called into account or into question our voracity on the committee. And to me, it just signals that there is a movement to prevent this report from being released in the fullest way possible. I trust us as a country to learn from what we did, and to be better for it. And for the life of me, I can't understand why it would say it wouldn't work with us. And frankly, respect, separation of powers, and our oversight role on the intelligence committee.
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Mark Udall
Senator (D-Colorado) Member of Select Committee on Intelligence
MSNBCW 08/06/2014
Kornacki: and quickly, Senator, are you confident this will ultimately come out in a way that is meaningful? And when do you think that will happen? Udall: Yeah, I am confident. I can't give you a date certain, but I want to underline, that Senator Feinstein is resolute, I'm resolute, Chairman Levin is resolute. Many members of the Democratic caucus are resolute. We all understand the stakes if we were to let this report be redacted to the point that it's meaningless.
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