Can this administration tell the truth - ever? They lied about NSA spying successes

The administration claimed 54 terrorist plots have been foiled due to NSA spying but the real number is 1 or 2??? Maybe I'm a little bent but I would prefer to hear the truth - good or bad....just the truth....

"The Obama administration issued misleading figures about terrorist plots foiled by the National Security Agency’s warrantless mass-collection of records of Americans’ every phone call, NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander admitted to lawmakers Wednesday.
“These weren’t all plots and they weren’t all foiled,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, told Gen. Alexander of the 54 cases that administration officials have cited as the fruit of the NSA’s controversial domestic snooping.
The Vermont Democrat asked the general if he agreed that the figures were misleading, “Yes or no?”
“Yes,” replied Gen. Alexander, who is both director of NSA and commander of the U.S. military’s Cyber Command. In response to a follow-up question, Mr. Alexander also acknowledged that only one or two of the cases cited by senior officials at previous hearings had actually been foiled by the NSA’s vast database.
Mr. Leahy said details of the 54 cases, even those provided to lawmakers in special classified briefings, were “unconvincing.”
“We get more from the newspapers than we do in the classified briefings that you give us,” he told Gen. Alexander and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, testifying alongside him."


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/2/nsa-chief-figures-foiled-terror-plots-misleading/#ixzz2gaEt9cmm
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This isn't the first time our gubment has lied to us, and it won't be the last. The spooks don't want us to know their trade secrets... because they are, ahem, secrets. They'll say it is need to know stuff and we don't need to know. You cannot conduct espionage when your targets know of your every move.

I suspect that Snowden's revelations expose only the tip of the iceberg. For instance, I'll bet that the mini shuttle the spooks have been flying on those long space missions generates data that won't be declassified for generations, if ever.

Eric wrote:

This isn't the first time our gubment has lied to us, and it won't be the last.  The spooks don't want us to know their trade secrets... because they are, ahem, secrets.  They'll say it is need to know stuff and we don't need to know.  You cannot conduct espionage when your targets know of your every move.  

I suspect that Snowden's revelations expose only the tip of the iceberg.  For instance, I'll bet that the mini shuttle the spooks have been flying on those long space missions generates data that won't be declassified for generations, if ever.

Well the point is they chose to lie when there was no reason except to lend credence to their ongoing operation. The number of interceptions is not a secret, they just brazenly inflated the numbers. At least the General told the truth when asked directly. Unlike several others like Holder and Clinton on other subjects. Must have been the military experience.

Yeah, Nochain, it is rare when you talk to a high-ranking gubment official and get a true story.

I think ALL of 'em have to get a M.S. in doublespeak with a B.S. in subterfuge.

In my book, Eisenhower was the last president that told the truth... most of the time. I say most of the time, because there were probably things even HE couldn't tell us.

nochain wrote:

Eric wrote:

This isn't the first time our gubment has lied to us, and it won't be the last.  The spooks don't want us to know their trade secrets... because they are, ahem, secrets.  They'll say it is need to know stuff and we don't need to know.  You cannot conduct espionage when your targets know of your every move.  

I suspect that Snowden's revelations expose only the tip of the iceberg.  For instance, I'll bet that the mini shuttle the spooks have been flying on those long space missions generates data that won't be declassified for generations, if ever.

Well the point is they chose to lie when there was no reason except to lend credence to their ongoing operation. The number of interceptions is not a secret, they just brazenly inflated the numbers. At least the General told the truth when asked directly. Unlike several others like Holder and Clinton on other subjects. Must have been the military experience.

Agree and thruthfully no one really wants to know every detail of things that have to be done for national security protection...No fan of Snowden whatsoever...if he was so concerned about the wrongdoings and then takes off ending up in Russia is certainly no friend of the US...The problem is that there has been reports of spying on our allies and on citizens and those concerns have never been answered or explained...But it's nver good when reports of numbers of terrorist plots are testified as being not accurate...that only adds to the concern of trust...