Chair Of The US Senate Intelligence Committee Appears To Contradict NSA Claims That They Do Not Collect Cell Phone Data Locations

US Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein shakes hands with director of national intelligence James Clapper. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

Feinstein Appears To Confirm NSA Gathering Cellphone Locations Despite Public Denials -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a staunch defender of the National Security Agency’s data collection programs, appeared Wednesday to confirm that the NSA is gathering information on where Americans are when they use their cellphones – something NSA officials repeatedly have denied in public.

The apparent confirmation, which may have been inadvertent, came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the NSA program. Feinstein, D-Calif., is also a member of that committee.

“I’ve listened to this program being described as a surveillance program. It is not,” Feinstein said. “There is no content collected by the NSA. There are bits of data – location, telephone numbers – that can be queried when there is reasonable and articulable suspicion.”

Feinstein’s office did not respond to a request for clarification.

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Update: Sen. Feinstein Claims The NSA Does Collect Phone Call Location Information, Contradicting The NSA -- Tech Crunch

My Comment: As I have mentioned on more than one occasion .... there has been so many lies and misleading statements from the White House/Congress/NSA/the intelligence community/etc.. on surveillance programs that I now no longer have any confidence in what they are saying is the truth.