First, they claimed Obama had known about the surveillance since 2010. Then the claim was walked back, with the NSA stating this information hadn‘t been forwarded to the President.

Then the administration, now engaged in multiple diplomatic battles, did something unexpected: it joined Feinstein in selling the agency out. Its defense of the agency had definitely been cooling over the past several weeks, but the NSA couldn‘t have expected to hear the President ask for „additional constraints“ on its surveillance programs.

Slapped twice, the NSA retracted its retraction and swung back at the administration it felt had cut the agency adrift.