Obama is the big loser in NSA fallout

US officials from across the political spectrum are scrambling to explain reports in The Guardian and Washington Post of unprecedented government collection of the phone records of Americans and the tracking of the Google, Facebook, and Skype activities of Americans and non-Americans worldwide.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, insisted in an unusual public statement that the phone programmes did not involve the surveillance of American citizens.

Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the senate select committee on intelligence, asserted the government needs the information to find someone who might become a terrorist. Republican senator Saxby Chambliss, the ranking member and vice-chairman of the intelligence committee, described the programme as “meritorious” because it allows government to collect information about “bad guys”.