Rogers: Greenwald ‘doesn’t have a clue’ how NSA works

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) slammed journalist Glenn Greenwald, saying the reporter who broke the story of the National Security Agency’s surveillance of phone and internet data “doesn’t have a clue” how the program works.

“I know you reported that you interviewed, Greenwald, says that he’s got it all and now is an expert on the program.  He doesn’t have a clue how this thing works,” said Rogers on ABC’s “This Week.”

{mosads}A few days earlier Greenwald, a reporter for The Guardian newspaper, broke news that the National Security Agency has been collecting phone metadata from Verizon on all of its customers. 

Rogers said that whoever leaked that story was not authorized to do so and should be prosecuted.

“I absolutely believe that someone did not have authorization to release this information,” Rogers said. “Neither did the person who released just enough information to literally be dangerous.”

Greenwald in a separate interview on ABC defended his actions. 

“Every single time any major media outlet reports on something that the government is hiding, that political officials don’t want people to know, such as the fact that they are collecting the phone records of all Americans, regardless of any suspicion of wrongdoing, the people in power do exactly the same thing.  They attack the media as the messenger and they are trying to discredit the story,” he said. 

The only thing we’ve endangered is the reputation of the people in power who are building this massive spying apparatus without any accountability who are trying to hide from the American people what it is that they are doing,” he added. “These are things that the American people have a right to know. “

Greenwald said he had not been contacted about the source of the leak.

“Any time they would like to speak to me, I would be more than happy to speak to them, and I will tell them that there is this thing called the Constitution, and the very first amendment of which guarantees a free press,” he said.

“The attempt to intimidate journalists and sources with these constant threats of investigation aren’t going to work,” Greenwald added.