[Huffpoo] NEW YORK --- Director of National Intelligence James Might be safer to assume all electronic media was compromised and take the appropriate actions.
"Snowden claims that he's won and that his mission is accomplished," Clapper said, according to a transcript from the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, posted by the Washington Post. "If that is so, I call on him and his accomplices to facilitate the return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been exposed, to prevent even more damage to U.S. security."
So who, exactly, are Snowden's "accomplices?"
I dunno, could be Fox News, Rush, Tea Party, NRA.
Guardian national security editor Spencer Ackerman, among others, questioned on Twitter whether Clapper was referring to journalists. HuffPoo put the question to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which didn't rule out that journalists could be considered "accomplices."
The office's public affairs director Shawn Turner said in an email that "director Clapper was referring to anyone who is assisting Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs."
No mention made of lawful domestic programs.
The suggestion that Snowden is conspiring with journalists, rather than acting as their source, has come up ever since the National Security Agency surveillance story broke last spring.
Blaming external, named or unnamed third parties. A proven administration strategy.