4 ms·
He might be interpreting the claim as being that Snowden could do that, which is, of course, false.
by cpleppert 13y ago
He might be interpreting the claim as being that Snowden could do that, which is, of course, false.
- gojomo 13y agoI don't follow your "of course, false". Maybe Snowden really could obtain wiretaps of federal judges and the President, either because he was given the discretionary permission to do so in the course of an investigation, or they were available to him with a little trivial privilege-escalation. Alexander might have meant Snowden wasn't supposed to have that capability. Or that Snowden had it but wasn't supposed to use it that way, so he "couldn't" do it under the law (but could in practice). It's hard to say; the testimony has often used obfuscatory weasel words and conveniently shifting definitions, and the avuncular grandparents in the Senate aren't exactly vigorous in their cross-examination.
- superuser2 13y agoWhat everyone misses about the comment on wiretapping the President is "if I had a personal email." There is no reason, none, that the President's Yahoo Mail account would be different from anyone else's Yahoo Mail account, so it's reasonable that that could be tapped without special permission. His statement did not preclude controls on tapping White House or other .gov emails.