The NSA later issued a more narrowly drawn statement than the initial response by Alexander, who conceded he had not read the Post story.
The reported pick drew immediate statements of concern, including from Human Rights Watch, which said that it showed "a deeply disturbing disregard for human rights principles and the laws of war".
The release of a recording of Donald Trump bragging about groping women drew harsh statements from both Republicans and Democrats condemning the GOP presidential nominee.
Law firms are already providing advice to companies on how to draw up statements.
In their research, they have been drawing on statements in court cases that were later shown to be lies.
Some of the detail was drawn from statements made by Ramzi Yousef, who was captured in 1995 and convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The case is still viewed more with mystery than clarity, and Mr. Madoff's version of events can only be drawn from statements attributed to him by federal prosecutors and regulators as he has not commented publicly on the case.
The Justice Department, drawing on statements it says Mr. Walker has made voluntarily since his capture in Afghanistan in December, alleges that he joined the Taliban to fight against the Northern Alliance.
However, we need to underline that these are early results that need to be extended for more combinations, codebook sizes and types of collections, in order to draw conclusive statements about appropriate sampling rates.
