NSA Chief, Gen. Keith Alexander, explains, in Pentagon video, why mass surveillance of Americans isn't really spying... Does that make sense?

This is not Photoshop snark. It is an actual title slide from
the Department of Defense's "Armed With Science" interview
with Gen. Alexander at the 12:36 mark. Click to enlarge

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Well, first, they aren't spying programs. So, I would correct the title of them. These are — one is called the business records, uh FISA program or section 215 and the other is called FISA MMX 702 or Prism...

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Josh Gerstein, of Politico, which posted the video, quoted the general about his view of the correct way that newspapers should report news about the NSA:

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     "I think it’s wrong that that newspaper reporters have all these documents, the 50,000—whatever they have and are selling them and giving them out as if these—you know it just doesn’t make sense," Alexander said in an interview with the Defense Department's "Armed With Science" blog.

      "We ought to come up with a way of stopping it. I don’t know how to do that. That’s more of the courts and the policymakers but, from my perspective, it’s wrong to allow this to go on," the NSA director declared.
      Alexander did not elaborate on what he meant by reporters "selling" documents or what options he might consider for halting the disclosures. An NSA spokeswoman declined to expand on the general's comments.

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