Majority of Americans say Director of National Intelligence Clapper should be prosecuted for perjury

Press TV – August 18, 2013

An overwhelming majority of Americans say James Clapper, the spy master who lied to Congress about domestic surveillance, should be prosecuted for perjury, results from a new survey show.

During a congressional hearing in March, Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, said the National Security Agency (NSA) did not collect phone and Internet data on millions of ordinary Americans, a response he later admitted was “clearly erroneous.”

Commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Credo and conducted by Public Policy Polling in five states, a new survey finds that huge majorities of Americans want Clapper prosecuted for lying to Congress.

In response to the question, “Do you think the Director of National Intelligence should be prosecuted for perjury?” 68 percent of voters in Texas and 69 percent in Kentucky said the spy chief should be prosecuted.

In the Democratic states of California and Hawaii, 54 percent and 58 percent of voters, respectively, said they want him prosecuted. In Iowa, 65 percent of voters said the same.

Recent revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the previously secret surveillance programs have sparked a heated national debate about government transparency and privacy issues in the United States, putting the Obama administration on the defensive.

In a move to dampen the controversy, President Barack Obama outlined a number of steps last Friday to increase transparency and reform some aspects of the NSA.

However the president’s four-point reform packaged provoked a backlash when it was implied that Clapper was being appointed to head an “independent group” of “outside experts” to oversee the government’s surveillance programs.

The White House later denied Clapper would lead the independent review, saying the director had to be involved for administrative reasons as the panel would need security clearance and access to classified information.