Senator Lindsey Graham Doesn't Know Details Of NSA Abuse, But Sure It's Fine Because 'WE'RE AT WAR!'

Say That Again

from the fud dept

So, over the weekend, the Washington Post reported on the latest bombshell from the Snowden files, showing both that the NSA is really bad at “minimizing” information on Americans that it’s not supposed to hang onto and (more importantly) that, contrary to earlier claims, Snowden did in fact have access to the FISA collection database of info (suggesting that the NSA’s controls over misuse of that data are not nearly as good as the agency and its defenders have claimed). Over at the Daily Beast, they figured that the various Senators in charge of oversight of the NSA would have some comments on the piece and how it shows an out of control NSA. But, that’s not quite what happened. Senator after Senator insisted that they either hadn’t yet read the story or were still trying to understand the details. The most ridiculous of all was kneejerk defender of the NSA, Lindsey Graham, who insisted that whatever was in the report didn’t matter because we’re at war:

Sen. Lindsey Graham?who sits on the Senate?s armed services, appropriations, and judiciary committees and is one of the Republican Party?s most prominent voices on defense and intelligence issues?wasn?t familiar with the Post piece.

?I don?t really know the details about what they?re saying in the paper. I know [NSA intelligence-gathering] is necessary. We?re at war with radical Islam,? Graham said.

Of course, that’s interesting on two accounts. First, technically, we’re not at war, because Congress hasn’t declared war. You’d think a Senator would know that. Second, even if we were at war, does Graham honestly believe that there can be no limitations on NSA surveillance and nothing can go too far, so long as he can insist that “we’re at war” (even if we’re not)? If so, that’s rather scary.

Other Senators similarly begged off responding to the piece, insisting they hadn’t seen the details, including Intelligence Committee head Dianne Feinstein:

Nearly two days after the release of The Washington Post?s report, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, who has direct oversight of the NSA, was just beginning to be fully briefed in the issue.

?I?m just in the process of looking into that,? Feinstein said.

And onto some others:

Sen. Carl Levin, the Democratic head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was in Afghanistan and hadn?t had a chance to catch up. Sen. James Inhofe, his Republican counterpart, hadn?t seen the story. Sen. Angus King, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said he didn?t know the facts behind the newest revelations yet. He wasn?t alone.

Of course, it’s safe to assume that most of them are just making an excuse to avoid answering the question, but that seems even worse. Either they don’t know what’s happening and have taken days to find out (bad) or they do know what’s happening and simply don’t want to comment about it (worse). Then, of course, there’s always someone who is going to insist the whole thing is bogus — but refuses to give any explanation as to why:

Sen. Tom Coburn, a member of Feinstein?s committee, came out of the Senate?s Monday votes challenging the veracity of the report, saying the ?story is not accurate.? Pressed on where it was inaccurate, Coburn said, ?I can?t tell you in what way. If I could tell you in what way, I would.?

To date, there has been no indication that there is anything amiss with the story. If it were really “not accurate,” you can rest assured that the NSA or James Clapper’s office would have been hitting back hard already about “inaccuracies” in the report. To date, they have not. Coburn’s “trust me,” is not particularly convincing since he still is the only person saying that… Though, I guess that’s still better than Graham’s ridiculous “we’re at war!” comment.

Filed Under: abuse, dianne feinstein, ed snowden, lindsey graham, nsa, surveillance, tom coburn
Companies: washington post