The United States needs to spend more time gaining intelligence on Russia and less time spying on its own citizens, Sen. Rand Paul said.
Speaking to
The Blaze Radio on Tuesday about the American intelligence community's failure to predict Moscow's incursion into Ukraine, Paul argued, "It appears as though we didn't have very good intelligence as to what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was doing," according to
The Hill. "I think we need to do a little more spying on the Russians and a lot less time spying on Americans."
The Kentucky Republican also said resources should not be diverted to use at home.
"We just shouldn't collect all Americans' records, and I think sometimes it distracts us from the things we should do," he said.
Director of National Intelligence
James Clapper has objected to that line of criticism, telling WTOP on Monday, "I have lived through some genuine intelligence failures in my career, and this was not a failure by any stretch."
Clapper said the intelligence community monitored the situation carefully and "provided anticipatory warning of [Russia's] incursion into Crimea."
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