Sen. Wyden: Clapper didn’t give ‘straight answer’ on NSA programs

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the chief Democratic critics of the Obama administration's surveillance programs, said Tuesday that Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper didn't give a "straight answer" on NSA surveillance programs at a March hearing.

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Wyden asked Clapper whether the National Security Agency collects "any type of data at all on millions of Americans.” Clapper responded, "No, sir" -- a response that seems to run contrary to the revelations of the past week concerning the NSA's broad phone record collection efforts.

Wyden said in a statement Tuesday that he gave intelligence officials the courtesy they needed to give a "straight answer," but said they declined to give one.