Last night, John Oliver stepped in as the host of the Daily Show as Jon Stewart is in the Middle East to film a movie for the next three months. The show was focused on the big news about the NSA surveillance program, which involved most of the correspondents as well.
The question now is can we trust the people who we've trusted with our information? Fortunately, just three months ago, the Senate held a hearing with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. And in hindsight, he gave us a truly interesting window into his trustworthiness.
3/12/2013:
SEN. RON WYDEN, D-OR: So, what I wanted to see is if you could give me a yes or no answer to the question. Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?
DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE JAMES CLAPPER: No sir.
SEN. RON WYDEN, D-OR: It does not?
DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE JAMES CLAPPER: Not wittingly.
(audience laughter)
No spy should have that big a tell! (scratches head) "I have no idea when the Normandy landings are. Is it hot in here, or am I just lying? Is it?"
Here's how much this guy was rubbing his forehead. This is him at the start of the hearing.
(audience laughter and applause)
That's George Stephanopoulos's hair. Aren't graphics fun?
Now, there are some systems already in place, thankfully, to protect us from all of this. It would, for instance, be illegal for the NSA to directly target Americans. Foreigners, however, sure, for national security, that's fair game.
The problem is, how can you tell accurately between an American and a foreigner? I guess you could ask, "Do you want to walk or drive?" But I'm sure that the NSA.... (audience laughter) You drive! You know you drive! You wouldn't even consider that as a question!
But relax, I'm sure the NSA has a more scientifically precise method of discerning between those two options than that.
CHRIS HAYES (6/6/2013): Analysts who use a system from a web portal at Fort Meade key in "selectors," or search terms, that are designed to produce at least 51% confidence in a target's "foreignness."
Whoa, whoa, whoa. 51%? That is a pretty fucking huge margin of error! That's basically flipping a coin, plus 1%! (audience cheering and applause)
Please, tell me we have retained at least some sort of external check on the NSA.
ROGER CRESSEY (6/9/2013): The FISA court, the intelligence surveillance court, has to approve any time NSA seeks to pull specific information out of this database.
JOE JOHNS (6/8/2013): Last year, for example, the government asked the court 1,789 times for authority to conduct electronic surveillance. ... The court did not deny any of the surveillance requests.
So they never say no! It's basically American Idol with four Randy Jacksons.
And we've essentially got nothing to hold the government back stronger than a rubber stamp court.
BARACK OBAMA (6/7/2013): There are a whole range of safeguards involved. ... Congress is continually briefed on how these are conducted.
Oh that's lovely. So now, instead of being spied on by the executive branch, it turns out we're being spied on by all the branches. I think you're misunderstanding the perceived problem here, Mr. President. No one is saying you broke any laws. We're just saying it's a little bit weird that you didn't have to. (audience cheering and applause) We'll be right back.
Video below the fold.
Meanwhile, Stephen also
covered the NSA leak.
He then looked at the latest news from
Turkey with National War College professor
Omer Taspinar.
He then
noted how the soldiers in charge of the nuclear launch feel like they're in a dead-end job.
John's first guest as host was
Seth Rogen, and Stephen talked with
Dan Savage.