What is the POTUS' level of clearance in top secret matters?

[pbase]

@Exapno Mapcase

Again, so what?

Nobody except you is saying that the average American knows anything deep about the government. And what the average American knows has nothing whatsoever to do with any topic covered in this thread in any way. The average American not knowing about the NSA doesn’t prevent all the politicians, all the journalists, all the lobbyists, all the professors, all the watchdog groups, all the activists, and all the literate public from knowing.

This isn’t even a strawman argument. I can’t figure out what point you think you’re making. Are you seriously arguing that because your high school textbook didn’t mention the NSA that they could therefore be hiding things from the President? I’m baffled.

No, Exapno. In a prior posting I (in response to you, as a matter of fact) I pointed out how it’s not impossible for a large government organization to fly beneath the radar. As an example, I mentioned how most americans had never heard of the NSA prior to 9/11.

I spoke of my textbooks having little to no information about the NSA because school is where most americans first come to know anything about the workings of our government. And I mentioned my textbooks again only in response to Wendell Wagner, who, when I first stated that most Americans had never heard of the NSA prior to the 90’s rattled off a list of publications and broadcasts mentioning the NSA.

I was not using my NSA reference to reinforce any of the points I had made earlier in this thread. Especially that the NSA was hiding something from the president. What?

This was an “aside,” if you will.

In none of my postings here did I ever state that the average american has any “deep” knowledge of our government. I honestly don’t even know where you got that from.

[Little_Nemo]

I’m sure most American are unaware that the Federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics exists but that doesn’t mean they’re a secret front for the New World Order. Just because an organization isn’t well-known to the public doesn’t make it invisible to the government itself. I’m sure there’s somebody in Washington who’s keeping an eye on the BoTS just like there’s somebody keeping an eye on the NSA. And if some employees at the NSA or the BoTS tried to illegally hide what it is they’re doing then those overseers are going to insist on knowing. And if the overseers are in on the conspiracy then their bosses are going to want to know their secrets. And so on all the way up to the top, which is the President, who has access to all of the secrets known to the federal government.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@pbase

No, Exapno. In a prior posting I (in response to you, as a matter of fact) I pointed out how it’s not impossible for a large government organization to fly beneath the radar.

Yes, you do keep telling us this. Fortunately there are several people here willing to do their part in fighting ignorance by repeatedly telling you that you are wrong.

[pbase]

Perhaps “fly beneath the radar” is a poor choice of words. It implies that the agency deliberately tried to keep its existence a secret, and I do not believe so.

I’m not saying that the NSA or any other intelligence agency is attempting to keep itself a secret from the public, the president or anyone else. I’m only stating that for whatever reason, perhaps because it isn’t as “romantic” as the CIA and FBI, the NSA was not a well known agency TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC until the 90’s. That’s all.