James Clapper, the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence, is winner of this year’s Rosemary Award, given out for the “Worst Open Government Performance of 2013″ by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
The award is named for Rosemary Woods, President Richard Nixon’s secretary, who took the rap — and posed for a famous stretching picture — for erasing 18 1/2 minutes from a key Watergate coverup tape.
Clapper won the prize for telling a whopper to a U.S. Senate hearing about National Security Agency evesdropping. “Does the National Security Agency collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds’ of millions of Americans’ telephone records?” asked Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, an NSA critic.
“No sir,” replied Clapper. A moment later, he added the qualification, “Not wittingly.” Continue>>>
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