Whistleblower Group Requests Attorney General Holder to Open Criminal Investigation of DNI James Clapper for False Statements to Congress

Washington, D.C. June 13, 2013. Attorneys at the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (“NWLDEF”) sent a letter to United States Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that he open a formal investigation into criminal conduct by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and others. The request is based in part on the allegations raised by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden indicating that the DNI lied in testimony to Congress. 

 

The request cites Snowden’s June 9 interviews with the media where he raised credible and specific credible evidenced documenting that the March 12, 2013 testimony given by General Clapper to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was false.

 

Stephen Kohn, who co-authored the letter and is also Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center, stated, “General Clapper and other executives at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Security Agency are not above the law. Although the use spying tactics applied abroad may be beyond the bounds of U.S. law enforcement, the actions and statements of General Clapper and associates before the U.S. Congress must conform to U.S. law. It is incumbent upon the Attorney General to hold executives within the Obama Administration fully accountable to the law.”

 
Kohn added, “No person may give false statements to the U.S. Senate, even under the guise of National Security. The title of Director of National Intelligence does not enable General Clapper to create a ‘truth-free zone’ when he testifies under oath before Congress.”

 

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