US spy chief James Clapper has strongly defended the government after revelations of phone records being collected and internet servers being tapped.
He said disclosure of a secret court document on phone record collection threatened “irreversible harm”.
Revelations of an alleged program to tap into servers of nine internet firms were “reprehensible”, he said. Internet firms deny giving government agents access to their servers.
The director of US national intelligence said he wanted to reassure Americans that the intelligence community was committed to respecting their civil liberties and privacy.
He issued a strong-worded statement late on Thursday, after the UK’s Guardian newspaper said a secret court order had required phone company Verizon to hand over its records to the National Security Agency (NSA) on an “ongoing daily basis”.
That report was followed by revelations in both the Washington Post and Guardian that US agencies tapped directly into the servers of nine internet firms to track people in a programme known as Prism.
The reports about Prism will raise fresh questions about how far the US government should encroach on citizens’ privacy in the interests of national security.
The NSA confirmed that it had been secretly collecting millions of phone records. But Mr Clapper said the “unauthorized disclosure… threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation”.
The article omitted “key information” about the use of the records “to prevent terrorist attacks and the numerous safeguards that protect privacy and civil liberties”.
Mr Clapper said the communications-collection programme was “designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-US persons located outside the United States”.
Source: The BBC
My comment:
After the Obama Administration crippled the worlds largest news agency, this latest scandal should not surprise anyone.
The totalitarian and fascist forces is moving on, also in the USA. There is little resistance. Simply because people are sleeping, stricken by apathy or simply completely disconnected.
Most of the people are not understanding that they will soon lose their freedom and liberty. Barack Hussein Obama represent a Trojan Horse set up in Washington. The enemy has already moved out of the hours, and entered into the offices of power.
Behold: Jesus the Messiah warned us about terrible times just before the end of the age. This age will be known for lawlessness, apostasy and widespread violence.
Get ready for the rise of the last and final anti-Christ. His rule on Earth will be brief, but full of evil.
Written by Ivar
ivarfjeld.com 
Dear Ivar.
You wrote:”After the Obama Administration crippled the worlds largest news agency,…”
What exactly do you refer to?
Dear Lis
It was AP (Associated Press).
Was it Fox News?
Fox News is full of Catholics and …well I won’t go into the rest…but their charm…is like the Pied Piper calling the sheep to follow them on ‘the truth’ as they tell it! and God help the person don’t bow down to them or their chosen ones to follow…ie Romney…etc..
Andrea, yes they are all Catholics, so is most of our supreme court, and many of the so called conservative republican’s. People vote according to republican/democrat and don’t even know their history, or care. They don’t even bother to check what their beliefs are. I guess, they would lie anyway. The churches have the same problem. They don’t warn about false teaching which is rampant. That is why we are in the trouble we are in. Not just in America but world wide. We are waiting for 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, while we try and share the gospel of peace.