Who knew that the perfect man for the job of “maintaining the trust of the people” in NSA spying, was the guy who lied under oath about NSA spying — DNI James Clapper.
From Reason (my emphasis and some reparagraphing everywhere):
President Orders James Clapper to Head NSA Review
When President Obama announced a series of intelligence reforms last Friday he called for the creation of an independent advisory group made up of “outside experts” who will review controversial [NSA] surveillance programs. But based on a memorandum issued today [August 12] by the White House, it’s not clear how independent the effort will be.
The president has directed the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, to establish the “review group” that will be responsible for issuing a report about how surveillance programs “impact our security, our privacy, and our foreign policy.”
The review group is intended in part, as the president said last week, to “maintain the trust of the people” — so why did the president put a man at the center of the spying controversy in charge?
Why indeed?
The president (lovable Democrat Barack Obama, in case you haven’t noticed) could have done a couple of things after James Clapper got caught lying to Congress. He could:
1. Indict James Clapper for lying to Congress.
2. Fire James Clapper for lying to Congress.
3. Reward James Clapper for lying to Congress.
4. Reward James Clapper for lying to Congress by putting him in charge of a propaganda effort to help re-sell NSA spying to “the people.”
Looks like Obama chose option 4. How do we know that it’s a propaganda effort? Because James Clapper is not in jail. If Barack Obama wanted to do Thing One to restore the people’s “trust,” he’d return the Executive Branch to rule of law, starting with a perp walk for … James Clapper.
Now you know.
And lest you forget, the NSA is the Pentagon. The propaganda blitz you’re about to be subjected to, of which this review group is part, is Pentagon psyops. They have a big professional department for that. (Obama’s wording itself is a tell. The first thing crisis-management pros teach you say is “maintain” trust when the problem is to “rebuild” it. See? The pros are already working this.)
It’s not pretty. I think I’ll let Ian Welsh take it from here, and just make my exit. He has a good bottom line, and I can’t improve on it. Welsh:
The Beauty of Obama’s Clapper Appointment
As you’ve probably heard, Obama has appointed James Clapper (the man who lied under oath to Congress about NSA spying) to review NSA spying.
I am in awe, few things have impressed me this deeply.
This isn’t just a middle finger to everyone … who is against blanket surveillance (aka. the majority of Americans), it is Obama saying “Kiss My Ass.” …
More at the link. Now you know.
GP
To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
Weekly: Recap top stories, occasional action alerts.
Daily: Get each day's posts in one email.
0 comments:
Post a Comment