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James
Clapper speaks on September 12, 2013 at a hotel in
Washington (AFP, Mandel
Ngan)
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WASHINGTON
— Leaks from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden triggered a much
needed debate about surveillance in America, even if they jeopardized national
security, the country's spy chief admitted Thursday.
"As
loathe as I am to give any credit for what's happened here, which is
egregious," said National Intelligence Director James Clapper, "I
think it's clear that some of the conversations that this has generated, some
of the debate... actually probably needed to happen."
Speaking at
a conference in Washington, Clapper said the public debate about the best way
to balance spying powers and privacy rights should "perhaps" have
taken place earlier.
"So if
there's a good side to this, maybe that's it," he said.
His
comments marked the first time a senior US intelligence official has admitted
the leaks might not have had a solely negative impact.
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Demonstrators
hold placards featuring
former US intelligence contractor
Edward Snowden in
Berlin on July 27,
2013 (AFP/File, John Macdougall)
|
Officials
have previously labeled Snowden a traitor who endangered America's interests
and spies in the field.
Clapper,
who oversees all 16 US intelligence agencies, predicted there would be more
revelations from Snowden, and said he was worried about their long-term
effects.
He said he
was concerned about "the impact, frankly, on our national security and the
damage caused by these continuous stream of revelations."
But he said
the intelligence community should be more open about its work, even if that
meant taking more risks, to ensure that Americans and their representatives in
Congress trusted their spy services.
He said his
office had this week declassified hundreds of pages of documents from the court
that oversees electronic surveillance as part of an attempt to be more
transparent.
"Transparency
of course is a double-edged sword. It's great for us, great for our citizens.
But of course the adversary goes to school on that transparency too," he
said.
"But
I'm convinced we have to err on the side of more transparency because, most
importantly, we won't have any of this if we don't have the trust and
confidence of citizens and their elected representatives."
He said he
had met with executives from some news media companies to discuss the fallout
from the Snowden leaks and found a "gulf" between how the two sides
viewed what affects national security.
And he
acknowledged that it was a "big challenge" to make the case publicly
for current surveillance powers in the aftermath of a wave of bombshell
revelations.
Snowden had
worked as a subcontractor in a NSA regional office in Hawaii before handing
over secret documents to newspapers that lifted the lid on the extent of the
spy agency's surveillance, including trawling through Americans' phone records
and online traffic.
Snowden,
who has been charged with espionage by US authorities, has secured asylum in
Russia and his disclosures continue to trickle out in the Guardian and other
publications.
President
Barack Obama has defended the NSA's surveillance as lawful but has left the
door open to more oversight from Congress or through other measures.
Clapper
said more oversight of electronic surveillance would be helpful if it helped
shore up public condence in the spy agencies.
But he said
the NSA, for which he worked earlier in his career, was "an honorable
institution" that deserved respect for its important work.
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