not intentionally. now in the letter clapper says in his head he was thinking about the internet program, the so-called section 705 program, which looks at overseas internet exchanges, e-mails and so forth, not the telephone program. after the hearing he says i realize i should have talked about the telephone program. he said he sent a letter to senator weiden and his staff but he couldn t make it public until all the revelations about the program. now he s saying 702 i should have said, not 705. he s decided to make this public now. that s his explanation. pete, senator widen revealed that his office sent in represe preparation the questions in advance so he knew what questions would be coming his way so he could be fully prepped to answer them and those responses. nonetheless he says that he had the internet program on his mind, that it had been just
giant computer that basically records every facet of our daily lives. what is this sinister program called? tyrannatran. radio foreshadow blade. the human snoopede. the internet program is called prism. prism? that s the best you ve got? with a logo that looks like a chinese boot leg of a pink floyd album. welcome back to morning joe. it s the top of the hour. katty kay with us along with howard dean in washington and joining us now former minnesota governor and republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty and in washington, pulitzer-prize winning columnist and associate editor of the washington post eugene robinson. later in this block i m going to ask our newer guests at the table to ask about the do i call it the butt slap. chad johnson. i m curious what they think
there s clearly indications the 702 program, the so-called prism program that you re aware of that s the internet program, but it s on foreign entities. it surveils foreigners and foreign entities, by the way that sweeps up americans as well. we could have the another conversation about that. but it s unclear to me we ve developed any intelligence through the metadata program that s led to the disruption of plots that could have been attained through other means. it s hard for me to sit here without further declassification to make the case, but i m not convinced the collection of this vast trove of data has disrupted plots. we ve heard the president say this week no one is listening in on your phone calls. let me just take that one step further. is anyone recording the phone calls of americans around whom there is no suspicion?
companies can t charge you, jail you, prosecute you, essentially incarcerate you. so there s a different standard here. i expect the government to protect my privacy. and it feels like that isn t what s been happening. again, there s a line, but to me the scale of it and the fact the law was being secretly interpreted has long concerned me. i m glad we re having this debate. i m very worried, by the way, about the leaks. i abhor leaks. i wish the administration had been more transparent. but, again, this is an important discussion. we value our privacy as americans. it s a part of our freedoms and liberties. what s the danger now what information we have seen in public is out there? what s the danger of knowing that the nsa is gathering up all phone information in the u.s. and that it has an internet program to get information from
i expect the government to protect my privacy. and it feels like that isn t what s been happening. again, there s a line, but to me the scale of it and the fact the law was being secretly interpreted has long concerned me. i m glad we re having this debate. i m very worried, by the way, about the leaks. i abhor leaks. i wish the administration had been more transparent. but, again, this is an important discussion. we value our privacy as americans. it s a part of our freedoms and liberties. what s the danger now what information we have seen in public is out there? what s the danger of knowing that the nsa is gathering up all phone information in the u.s. and that it has an internet program to get information from foreigners? what s the harm? yeah. my concern is this is vast. it hasn t been proven that it works.