We‘re used to our government‘s security and intelligence agencies telling lies in order to justify their actions. The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has achieved a sort of infamy for his „least untruthful answer“ in response to questioning. (Not that this infamy has cost him his job…) Others have performed linguistic aerobics („not under this program,“ „relevant to…“) to stretch the truth just enough to give their activities a thin veneer of legitimacy.