Senators Confront Alexander Over NSA Prism Scandal

Senators Confront Alexander Over NSA Prism Scandal

on Wed, 12 Jun 2013

What was once scheduled as an ordinary hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee has become a closely-watched spectacle Wednesday, as National Security Agency (NSA) Director Keith Alexander testifieson the NSA and Prism scandals. New revelations are still emerging about the vast extent to which the agency has been monitoring telephone calls and Internet traffic--not just among foreign nationals but U.S. citizens.

Senators were expected to ask Alexander to explain, in public, the extent and detail of the NSA's surveillance programs. In particular, the Senate has shown interest in whether Alexander, like Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, had appeared to mislead Congress in 2012 when asked directly about such spying. 

Other legislators, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate, have shown concern about how a low-level contractor, Edward Snowden, was able to obtain top secret information--and how he was able to leak it to the media. Snowden is thought to be in Hong Kong, where he intends to fight likely extradition.