National security regrets: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper now admits that telling Americans about mass government surveillance of phone records would have been smarter than hiding it. Clapper tells The Daily Beast's Eli Lake:
"I probably shouldn't say this, but I will. Had we been transparent about this from the outset right after 9/11… We wouldn't have had the problem we had... I don't think it would be of any greater concern to most Americans than fingerprints. ... had we been transparent about it and say here's one more thing we have to do as citizens for the common good, just like we have to go to airports two hours early and take our shoes off, all the other things we do for the common good, this is one more thing."
Instead, the world learned about the program when Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing National Security Agency practices.
Family photo finish: Four-year-old Marwan was reunited with his family this week after being separated while crossing the desert from Syria into Jordan. A photo of him seemingly on his own was widely circulated, but a second photo, shared later, shows he was only about 20 feet behind his mother.
"Here's Jimmy": Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" debuted in New York on Monday night, when he was visited by former mayor Rudy Giuliani, former "Saturday Night Live" castmate Tina Fey, and many others including former "Tonight Show" guest Joan Rivers, who had not appeared on the program since being banned by Johnny Carson.
By Ali Watkins and Julie Moos
McClatchy Washington Bureau