U. S. Senate and Feinstein’s Committee protect Clapper again.

A provision passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee in November of 2014 and included in a bill about to be brought to the Senate Floor so offended Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, that he asked Diane Feinstein to remove it. The provision would have required the President of the U.S. to issue a yearly report to the public about the deaths of “combatants” and “non-combatants” as a result of drone attacks. Evidently Clapper thought the President did not have the means to appropriately disclose information to the public without interfering with Clapper’s needs. He suggested to Feinstein that

“To be meaningful to the public, any report including the information described above would require context and be drafted carefully so as to protect against the disclosure of intelligence sources and methods or other classified information. … We are confident we can find a reporting structure that provides the American people additional information to inform their understanding of important government operations to protect our nation, while preserving the ability to continue those operations,” HERE

Pardon me for thinking that the President’s staff could prepare a report to the people of the U.S. that had context, was carefully drafted, and did not in any way interfere with or reveal information vital to the security of the country. (I say this despite the fact that I am not overly fond of President Obama’s record so far.)

Perhaps James Clapper is so worried about what the citizens of this country might learn that he has to continually dissemble and manipulate the information we are given about what is being done in our names. Perhaps he is simply so full of his own authority that he can not concede that he lives in a democracy or at least the remnants of one. Fortunately for him he has Diane Feinstein to cater to his need to protect his secrets
whatever they may be.