President Obama has said that having an open conversation about U.S. intelligence gathering is “healthy for our democracy”, that the methods of the NSA are "transparent" and, speaking of PRISM, that "every member of Congress has been briefed". But this rhetoric does not find accordance in action. DNI Clapper has been deliberately abstruse at best, at worst has lied, repeatedly, to Congress and to the American people. If the President truly wishes to engage on this issue, the resignation or dismissal of DNI Clapper would be a fine start and, in this late hour, perhaps a necessary signal of good faith to an American people and a world at large inured to government misconduct.



