Director of National Intelligence Clapper Apologizes for "Clearly Erroneous" Testimony to Congress

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein apologizing for his March 12, 2013 testimony to Congress, in which he denied that the NSA collected data on millions of Americans. In response to a direct question from Senator Ron Wyden asking “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”, Clapper had answered “No, sir” and “Not wittingly.”

Following Edward Snowden’s revelations that exposed the NSA’s bulk metadata collection program, Clapper’s testimony was revealed to be false. In his July 2, 2013 apology letter, Clapper acknowledged that “my response was clearly erroneous—for which I apologize.” He claimed he had been thinking about whether the NSA collected the content of emails rather than metadata of phone records, stating “I realized later Sen. Wyden was asking about metadata collection, rather than content collection.”

In a subsequent MSNBC interview, Clapper defended his false testimony by claiming he responded in the “least untruthful” manner possible when discussing classified programs in a public hearing. This explanation drew widespread criticism from civil liberties advocates, legal scholars, and members of Congress who argued that lying under oath, regardless of classification concerns, constituted perjury.

Despite clear evidence of false testimony under oath—a federal crime that has resulted in prosecutions of ordinary citizens—no perjury charges were filed against Clapper. The Justice Department declined to prosecute, and Clapper remained in his position as Director of National Intelligence until January 2017. The incident highlighted the double standard in accountability for senior intelligence officials compared to whistleblowers like Snowden, who faced Espionage Act charges for revealing the very programs about which Clapper had lied to Congress. Senator Wyden and other lawmakers criticized the failure to hold Clapper accountable, arguing it undermined congressional oversight of intelligence agencies.