back to article US Director of National Intelligence legs it

James Clapper, who as Director of National Intelligence was economical with the truth when it came to acknowledging US domestic surveillance activities subsequently revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, has announced his resignation. Clapper isn't resigning over lies, but instead because it's traditional for heads like …

  1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Hmm. I'd really like to know just how much of intelligence work is outsourced to private contractors. And to whom. For how much. And by what rules the contractors are supposed to play.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      We could tell you - but then we would have to kill you

  2. Magani
    Happy

    Oblig Goon Show Quote

    "Clapper? That name rings a bell..."

    1. Grunchy Silver badge

      Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

      That's the guy who invented the toilet.

      1. Pompous Git Silver badge

        Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        That's the guy who invented the toilet.
        I thought it was the name of the guy who brought gonorrhoea from America to Europe.

      2. macjules
        Coat

        Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        That's the guy who invented the toilet.

        No, that was the Chinese chap who rings a bell.

      3. SomeoneInDelaware

        Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        "That's the guy who invented the toilet."

        And then directed the toilet. And we all know what winds up there.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        But it was John Crapper who invented the FLUSHING toilet!

      5. TAJW

        Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        No, that was Crapper, which is where all your personal information has gone.

    2. BillG
      WTF?

      Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

      Senator Wyden's statement is hilarious in the article. It boils down to "Yeah, we crapped all over the American's people's privacy, and all others all over the world, but it's O.K. because the next President might do it too".

      What a hypocrite.

      1. Mark 85

        Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        Wyden and others have to be a bit careful at this point. With the new Congress coming in, he could get booted off the committee. So far, he's been one of the few who don't like all the surveillance and snooping. If Trump decides it's ok and the critics are too outspoken, it's likely the critics can get bounced off the committees.

        I wish Congress would file charges against him and Comey for lying under oath. It might bring some accountability to the government. But that probably won't happen as no one wants to be accountable.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Mark 85 - booting Wyden off the committee

          No, that's not how it works. Just because the republicans have a majority doesn't mean they get to choose what democrats are on which committees. The democrats decide who they want for their seats in the various committees, and republicans have no say at all. Those with more seniority get first choice, so Wyden will remain where he is.

          1. Mark 85

            Re: @Mark 85 - booting Wyden off the committee

            You're right, but with Dems like Feinstein mucking about, he could get booted by his party if enough of those like her want to give in to the Darkside.

      2. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
        FAIL

        @BillG Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

        What are you on about? Wyden is clearly opposed to the surveillance which has happened under this administration and is putting forth the statement that he hopes that the Oompa Loompa in Chief will do better. The phrase "not fucking likely" leaps to mind, of course.

  3. Youngone Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    No-one is serious about this

    As far as I can tell, lying while under oath to a Congressional Committee is a crime punishable by a fine and up to 5 years prison, but everyone lies all the time, and no-one is punished for it.

    All that blather about how outraged the American people are is a total load. Nothing will happen and they know it.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: No-one is serious about this

      We might be outraged but Congress is pretty much out of control. Elected but not accountable with the "it's the other guy's fault" syndrome. I wish we could bulldoze the whole mess and start over.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: No-one is serious about this

        I've been watching Designated Survivor this fall, and I can't help but think something like that happening would actually have some upside...

  4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "I submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good,"

    Translated from Clapper-speak: he's been fired and he's livid.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It is either that or when Trump starts draining the swamp he could see his name being on a cell door.

    2. macjules

      "I got 64 days left and I think I'd have a hard time with my wife anything past that."

      Director of National Intelligence maybe, Director of Mangling English .. definitely. I presume that in his tenure as DNI he was responsible for that most bastardisation of English: 'disinsurgentivisation' to describe removal of Daesh/Al Queda in Iraq.

  5. Sampler

    Outraged, Outraged I tell you...

    Not enough to actually do anything mind you, just be outraged...

  6. DanceMan

    I note no Republican voices on this committee asking tough questions or standing up for American citizens' rights to privacy. Or calling out Clapper for bald-faced lying to Congress.

    1. Mark 85

      If you've been paying attention, there's only been a couple of voices in Congress who have been asking the questions and standing up. The rest are pretty much going along for the ride with the TLA's. Don't get me started on Feinstein.

  7. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Favors returned

    Replacement will probably be the FBI guy who ran the Hilary email investigation, or at least the spokesman that made those convenient announcements in the days before the vote

  8. Archie1954

    The current president and the current Congress are too weakneed to deal with the lying wretches like Clapper. It takes someone like Trump to make sure these liars and cheats pay for their criminality.

    1. Mk4

      Are you taking the piss?

      Really? Really?!

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      All the Trump voters are going to be so disappointed when he drains the swamp and then builds some giant nepotistic garish Trump building there instead. Who will they vote for next?

  9. hplasm
    Happy

    Clap on,

    Clap off!

    Claptrap.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    great change (not)

    a liar to be replaced by a new liar.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I urge the next administration to take a different approach

    I presume the senator's not that stupid (how can this new administration take a "different approach", when the out-going one, apparently so cuddly, had THAT approach already?), so he must be peddling his split of a second of airtime :(

  12. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    What you have to look forward to ....... ‽ .

    Forewarned is forearmed. Don't be pwnd. You know it makes sense :-)

    amanfromMars [1611170443/0454*/0516**] … said in reply to a comment on http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/india-bans-cash-now-gold/

    Please give an example of a false fact as opposed to a "true fact"...tinfoilhattt

    Happy to oblige, amigo.

    :-) .... Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction "and his military planning allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them." is a real doozy and titanic howler of a prime sub-prime example, tinfoilhattt. ......... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Dossier

    Lord Haw Haw would have been proud of Tony Blair and the UK Parliament and the Establishment for those false facts.

    And yes, a false fact is a disaster of a monumental lie and leads all who believe in it to a virtual reality which has no fundamental structures based on live truths ....... everything is contrived and fabricated/prefabricated in perverse and corrupted think tanks/right dodgy criminalising organisations with ready access to subservient, compliant and ignorant mass mainstream media operations ‽ .

    Or is all of that a false fact rather than a gathering of true facts?

    *And the abiding expanding problem for all such dodgy criminalised and criminalising systems is that the truth cannot be beaten and defeated and it will always surface and become general and global common knowledge sooner or later ……. and in these new times with virtual spaces of anonymous and autonomous remote command and cyber control, is it always sooner than expected and was ever thought humanly possible.

    **More false facts tales and faux pas news news here ..... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-16/mike-krieger-rages-fake-news-debacle-its-all-out-media-war ...... AI, IT and Media, it's a Hearts and Minds Capturing Great Game is it not ‽ .

    1. Pompous Git Silver badge

      Re: What you have to look forward to ....... ‽ .

      Please give an example of a false fact as opposed to a "true fact"...tinfoilhattt

      Happy to oblige, amigo.

      [pedant] Sorry amanfromMars, but you are wrong.

      A fact (OED): "Something that has really occurred or is actually the case; something certainly known to be of this character; hence, a particular truth known by actual observation or authentic testimony, as opposed to what is merely inferred, or to a conjecture or fiction; a datum of experience, as distinguished from the conclusions that may be based upon it".

      The "false facts" whereof you squeak are inferences, not particular truths.

      [/pedant]

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sometimes I wish the internet, inter-connectivity, cloud this-and-that would just fuck off.

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