Intelligence Director James Clapper was apparently previously unaware of the London terror arrests, which, when you consider that his job is to brief the President daily on national security, is sure to inspire lots of confidence in the administration. He learned about it from Diane Sawyer in this interview, around 3:40 in:
SAWYER: “I was a little surprised you didn’t know about London, Director.”
CLAPPER: “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t.”
Clapper’s first response was to slam Sawyer, calling her question “ambiguous.”
Yesterday, Clapper’s office had declined to say whether he knew about the specific disrupted plot but issued a statement calling Sawyer’s question “ambiguous.” Today, his office appears to have changed their position.
“Director Clapper had not yet been briefed on the arrests in the United Kingdom at the time of this interview taping,” said ODNI spokeswoman Jamie Smith in a statement to ABC’s Jake Tapper.
National Security Director John Brennan seemed to slam the media:
“There was breathless attention by the media about these arrests and it was constantly on the news networks,” Brennan told reporters. “I’m glad that Jim Clapper is not sitting in front of the TV 24 hours a day and monitoring what’s coming out of the media. What he is doing is focusing on those intelligence issues the president expects him to focus on.”
He’s focusing on intelligence issues that the media knew about before he did? If this becomes a pattern, maybe he should monitor the media. This has nothing to do with media monitoring, this has to do with the media knowing things an intelligence director is supposed to know for his job before HE does. Especially when your job is to brief the President – and in effect, Diane Sawyer did that for Clapper yesterday.
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