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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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national lead
Report: NSA can indeed monitor you online
Americans have been told, over and over again, that the National Security Agency is not tracking them online, or looking at the contents of their e-mails. But apparently it can, according to a new report by Glenn Greenwald for The Guardian newspaper, using more information from stranded former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The report claims that the NSA has a program called XKeyscore that stores virtually all of a user's online activity in a database.
It is not supposed to be used domestically on Americans – but The Guardian says it could be, without any prior warrant necessary.
Private correspondence, political views, health records – all of it could be in a database, and a snap to search.
The news of XKeyscore broke just as senators grilled some of the nation's top intelligence officials about why they need such potentially invasive programs to keep Americans safe.
"The phone records of all of us in this room, all of us in this room, reside in a NSA database. I've said repeatedly just because we have the ability to collect huge amounts of data does not mean we should be doing so," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said at the hearing.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to understand how the NSA could know so much about private citizens, and still go unchecked by those elected to represent Americans.
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national lead
Sen. Wyden: New documents show Intel community misled Congress
Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” Wednesday that a newly declassified document provided evidence of how the intelligence community has misled Congress about the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance programs.
“In the document that was declassified today, it talked about how the bulk collection of e-mail was a vital capability,” Wyden said. “And Senator (Mark) Udall (D-Colorado) and I believed early on that that was not the case. We kept pressing the point. We were able to show that it was in effect worthless. That's the reason that it was eliminated. And yet the intelligence community, when they first described it a few days ago, they said it was for operational reasons.”
Wyden said that “on issue after issue, too many of the leaders in the intelligence community have not just kept the Congress in the dark; the Congress have been given inaccurate statements and in effect been actively misled.”
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world lead
On 2001 Massacre of Taliban POWs, White House says case closed, no U.S. involvement
By CNN Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper
The White House says the administration has completed an investigation into the 2001 massacre of hundreds of Taliban prisoners by a CIA- and U.S. Special Forces-backed Afghan warlord and his fighters - and concluded that no U.S. personnel were involved.
“At the president’s direction, the U.S. government has looked into the facts of the 2001 Dasht-e-Leili massacre and we have concluded that no American troops were involved in this incident,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told CNN Tuesday.
When it was pointed out that her statement left an opening for the involvement of other Americans, such as CIA officers, Hayden got back to CNN Wednesday with a more expansive statement, asserting that "No U.S. personnel were involved in this incident.”
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politics lead
Democratic strategist: Female representatives say Filner had a 'creepy' reputation
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is not only not stepping down, he is doubling down.
Filner is asking the city to pick up the tab for his growing legal fees after seven women came forward accusing him of sexual harassment. The city is filing a cross complaint, asking that he pay them for their legal fees.
"I had dinner this weekend with female members and former members who said this guy has been this way all along, that everybody thought he was a little creepy," said Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen.
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money lead
Rep. Ellison: Fast food CEOs make millions, their workers deserve higher wages
From New York to Kansas City, workers are walking off the job asking fast food chains to, as some protesters chanted, "supersize their wages."
They say doubling the minimum wage, from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, is the only way they can realistically make ends meet.
Rep. Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, not only supports fast food workers in their fight for higher wages, he joined them on the picket lines.
Some economists say a hike in the wage will reduce hiring or at least reduce hours, and that the recovery right now is too fragile to start that chain reaction that will ultimately hurt workers.
"Funny how the economy is not too fragile for CEOs to be paid like $4.9 million in four months" like the CEO of Wendy's, said Ellison.
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