“Despite heavy competition, Clapper’s ‘No, sir’ lie to Senator Ron Wyden’s question: ‘Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?’ sealed his receipt of the dubious achievement award, which cites the vastly excessive secrecy of the entire U.S. surveillance establishment.”
via the National Security Archive.
From the press release:
“Former NSA senior counsel Joel Brenner blamed Congress for even asking the question, claiming that Wyden ‘sandbagged‘ Clapper by the ‘vicious tactic’ of asking ‘Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?’ ”
“Meanwhile, Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists countered that ‘it is of course wrong for officials to make false statements, as DNI Clapper did,’ and that in fact the Senate Intelligence Committee ‘became complicit in public deception‘ for failing to rebut or correct Clapper’s statement, which they knew to be untruthful.”
The award is named after President Nixon’s secretary, Rose Mary Woods, who testified she had erased 18-and-a-half minutes of a crucial Watergate tape. It is bestowed annually by the non-profit National Security Archive, to highlight the lowlights of government secrecy,
The National Security Archive, a research institution, has no connection to the NSA.