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green73
06-15-2013, 06:13 AM
A recent briefing by senior intelligence officials on surveillance programs failed to attract even half of the Senate, showing the lack of enthusiasm in Congress for learning about classified security programs.

Many senators elected to leave Washington early Thursday afternoon instead of attending a briefing with James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, Keith Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA), and other officials.

The Senate held its last vote of the week a little after noon on Thursday, and many lawmakers were eager to take advantage of the short day and head back to their home states for Father’s Day weekend.

Only 47 of 100 senators attended the 2:30 briefing, leaving dozens of chairs in the secure meeting room empty as Clapper, Alexander and other senior officials told lawmakers about classified programs to monitor millions of telephone calls and broad swaths of Internet activity. The room on the lower level of the Capitol Visitor Center is large enough to fit the entire Senate membership, according to a Senate aide.

The Hill was not provided the names of who did, and who didn't, attend the briefing.


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/305765-senators-skip-classified-briefing-on-nsa-snooping-to-catch-flights-home

A Son of Liberty
06-15-2013, 06:17 AM
Borrrr-ing.

So anyway, did you hear that Kim Kardashian had plastic surgery while she's pregnant? OMG do you believe that!??1? LOL!

Warlord
06-15-2013, 06:20 AM
4 day week for the senators

Origanalist
06-15-2013, 06:40 AM
This is interesting, but not surprising. These people really aren't interesting in preserving our liberty. Quite the opposite.


The Hill was not provided the names of who did, and who didn't, attend the briefing.

Not very helpful, that would have been nice.

moostraks
06-15-2013, 07:08 AM
Disgusting! These folks need fired and awful nice The Hill won't provide names...:mad:

AngryCanadian
06-15-2013, 07:20 AM
Bastards they should be tired for treason and for supporting Terrorists as well.

tod evans
06-15-2013, 07:45 AM
No taxation without representation...

Root
06-15-2013, 07:55 AM
Perhaps they don't want to hear the truth/details because they are afraid they will find it so disgusting they might actually have to act? Not really a good reason. I'm just throwing that out there.

JK/SEA
06-15-2013, 08:14 AM
no names?...ok...i'm going to assume no one went.

John F Kennedy III
06-15-2013, 08:32 AM
no names?...ok...i'm going to assume no one went.

Same here. I'm hoping Rand was one of the 47 that attended.

otherone
06-15-2013, 09:16 AM
The other 53 will just get a recording of the briefing from the NSA. :cool:

ClydeCoulter
06-15-2013, 09:26 AM
Perhaps they were going to have to sign or imply a Non-disclosure Agreement and didn't want to do that. "Cool, let's have a 'secret' meeting and prevent further discussion on any details".?

HOLLYWOOD
06-15-2013, 10:30 AM
incredible recall of history... back to CIA's William Casey and the 1980s:
Gary Schmitt, an AEI scholar who served as Democratic staff director on the Senate Intelligence Committee from 1982 to 1984, said then-CIA director William Casey had told members of the committee about the covert action but couched it in such a way as to minimize notice.

“The mining was mentioned but it was mentioned in the context of a very long briefing that Casey was giving and it was done in passive voice and in such a way as to make it sound like an ongoing program,” he recalled.

“It was a case of writing it in such a way as to obscure the fact that the agency was directly involved in the mining.”

Occam's Banana
06-15-2013, 10:50 AM
Same here. I'm hoping Rand was one of the 47 that attended.

FTA:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the chief critics of the surveillance programs, was spotted leaving the briefing.

Brian4Liberty
06-15-2013, 10:55 AM
Perhaps they were going to have to sign or imply a Non-disclosure Agreement and didn't want to do that. "Cool, let's have a 'secret' meeting and prevent further discussion on any details".?

That was my first thought too. They may try to use this to silence senators.

Occam's Banana
06-15-2013, 11:11 AM
There are a couple of points to keep in mind here:

(1) The vast majority of politicians are just professional squawkers. They don't need information or data or any such thing. They need only to detect the quarter of the wind. Since this NSA thing seems to have stirred some degree of public disgruntlement, they will make the correspondingly appropriate noises. Beyond that, they neither know nor care to know.

(2) Any information or data provided in such briefings is likely to be so thoroughly "masssaged" by the presenters as to be almost worthless except as "spin" and "talking points." James Clapper is one of the presenters. He flat out lied to Congress before. Why should he (or any of the other presenters) be expected to be any more honest & forthcoming here?

(3) This is not so much a "point to keep in mind" as it is an interesting side note: When Ron Paul was in Congress, he did not attend such meetings when they came with non-disclosure obligations. Unless I missed it, the OP article doesn't say whether this is such a meeting or not.

John F Kennedy III
06-15-2013, 11:13 AM
FTA:

Thanks.

kcchiefs6465
06-15-2013, 11:15 AM
Disgusting! These folks need fired and awful nice The Hill won't provide names...:mad:

I can imagine a few.

tangent4ronpaul
06-15-2013, 11:17 AM
(3) This is not so much a "point to keep in mind" as it is an interesting side note: When Ron Paul was in Congress, he did not attend such meetings when they came with non-disclosure obligations. Unless I missed it, the OP article doesn't say whether this is such a meeting or not.

That would be a great call in question to Washington Journal the next time a congress critter is on discussing the issue.

-t

Brian4Liberty
06-15-2013, 11:22 AM
There are a couple of points to keep in mind here:

(2) Any information or data provided in such briefings is likely to be so thoroughly "masssaged" by the presenters as to be almost worthless except as "spin" and "talking points." James Clapper is one of the presenters. He flat out lied to Congress before. Why should he (or any of the other presenters) be expected to be any more honest & forthcoming here?


Exactly. The actual briefing would be all spin.



(3) This is not so much a "point to keep in mind" as it is an interesting side note: When Ron Paul was in Congress, he did not attend such meetings when they came with non-disclosure obligations. Unless I missed it, the OP article doesn't say whether this is such a meeting or not.

They are calling the briefing "classified".

"We are going to give you some information, and if you ever discuss this or anything related, we'll put you in prison for treason".

sailingaway
06-15-2013, 11:54 AM
The only excuse is if they required people to agree not to talk about it. Ron went to exactly one of those, and said they said stuff he thought the people had a right to know, so he wouldn't sign that any more.