Wyden: New intelligence leadership needed

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) suggested Sunday that James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, should be replaced.

{mosads}Wyden, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Clapper had made “flagrantly inaccurate” statements last year, when the intelligence chief said the federal government doesn’t collect data on most Americans.

“I think that we need an upgrade in the intelligence leadership,” Wyden said.

Wyden said he was encouraged by National Security Agency reforms recently announced by President Obama that would allow bulk records to stay with the phone companies.

But Wyden also declined to get into whether people in the U.S. should have other reasons to fear for their privacy, and would not weigh in on whether the NSA leaker Edward Snowden should be criminally charged.

“This is a debate that shouldn’t have started that way,” Wyden said. “I’m not a prosecutor.”