Clapper Claims Snowden Leaks Adding to ‘Threats’ Faced by US

Recent Report Contradicts Claim: No Change in Tactics Post Leaks

Fresh off of the release of a new report showing no evidence that al-Qaeda or other Islamist groups changed their tactics in any meaningful way after the Edward Snowden NSA leaks, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is once again harping on about the “threats” Snowden is to blame for.

Clapper, best known for bragging about lying to Congress in testimony last year, claims Snowden created a “perfect storm” of degraded spying capabilities, and that the US “is facing the most diverse set of threats I’ve seen in my 50 years in the intelligence business.”

Clapper has been keen to fuel hysteria about the leaks themselves, while continuing to insist that the misdeeds Snowden leaked weren’t true to begin with, and that the NSA would never think of violating Americans’ privacy.

The timing of Clapper’s latest comments is particularly bizarre, since once again the reports coming out suggest the “threats” claims were entirely illusory, and leaks continue to emerge showing the NSA was indeed collecting data on Americans.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.