BBC News – Barack Obama pledges greater surveillance transparency
BBC News – Barack Obama pledges greater surveillance transparency.
( Gee, that’s great. Nothing to worry about anymore. Let’s put Snowden in jail for life for being the “traitor” that brought about this wonderful new “transparency” and get on with surrendering to radical Islam. – JW )
President Barack Obama has promised “appropriate reforms” to guarantee greater oversight of controversial US surveillance programs.
At a White House news conference, he proposed “safeguards against abuse”, including amending legislation on the collection of telephone data.
Mr Obama also urged allowing a lawyer to challenge decisions by the nation’s secretive surveillance court.
He has been defending the programmes since they were leaked in June.
Mr Obama said on Friday that the US “can and must be more transparent” about its snooping on phone and internet data.
“Given the history of abuse by governments, it’s right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives,” he told reporters.
“It’s not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programmes,” Mr Obama added. “The American people need to have confidence as well.”
Snowden ‘no patriot’
Mr Obama unveiled four steps aimed at reassuring Americans about the surveillance:
- He said he would work with Congress to reform Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which governs the programme that collects telephone records
- He directed justice officials to make public the legal rationale for the government’s phone-data collection activities, under Section 215
- He proposed allowing an attorney to challenge the government’s position on the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
- He announced the formation of a group of external experts to review all US government intelligence and communications technologies
The president went on to accuse Russia of “backward” thinking, following its decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed details of the secretive surveillance programmes to media.
Although he played down talk of a serious diplomatic rift with Moscow, Mr Obama said there had been more anti-American rhetoric since President Vladimir Putin returned to Russian presidency.
He said that during photocalls with President Putin, the Russian leader “has got that kind of slouch, looking like he’s the bored kid in the back of the classroom”. But he said their discussions in private had been constructive.
In response to a journalist’s question about Mr Snowden, Mr Obama said: “No, I don’t think Mr Snowden was a patriot.”
The White House this week cancelled a planned summit between Mr Obama and Mr Putin next month in Moscow.
Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized
WarSclerotic 
August 9, 2013 at 11:29 PM
“Mr Obama said there had been more anti-American rhetoric since President Vladimir Putin returned to Russian presidency.”
You could do a complete 180 on this statement and it would make more sense.
August 9, 2013 at 11:30 PM
theirs dark stuff going on tonight i hope nothing really bads about to happen,theirs all the ME stuff plays Russian strategic bombers are attempting to penetrate usa and Canadian airspace,and coms are down with a critical forward unit,
August 9, 2013 at 11:33 PM
before any one asked no i cant elaborate on this but i have seen the signal,there is some kind of high alert on,
August 10, 2013 at 12:15 AM
Obama pledges greater surveillance to allow greater transparency of your personal lives.
He will fight his utmost to guarantee oversight of all Americans and the world by being able to see everything and make appropriate reforms to private companies so that protection of the government from the people is assured!
August 10, 2013 at 9:40 AM
Funny, not until Obama got caught with his hand in the cookie jar is he going to make changes. What a load of shit. Sorry, but it’s true. If it was not for Snowden, this would have NEVER have happened.
August 10, 2013 at 9:44 AM
I saw yesterday evening the last Obama’ Show in the series; it was good, but not so good, if you know what I mean. The man looked a little tired; there is no surprise in that, if you’ll ask me. The man has to explain all the time why he is doing this and what he did that, all that sh!t that already hit in all the places…hard job, indeed. Give him a break, you nasty people. Enough with the questions. Enough with the inquiries. You wanted him? You got him. Its the same Obama, so don’t expect anything new. He will sell you all the sh!t you’ll want to hear; he is all you know; women are dreaming about him, men want to be like him, kids want to play with toys like him and America cannot have enough of him. You want him? You got him.
August 11, 2013 at 4:53 AM
Obama is overhyped. The media makes it look like everyone wants to emulate him, Luis. While I agree that we are stuck with Obama, we did not want him. The turnout in the 2012 presidential election was only 58.2 percent. Of this, Obama carried 51.1 percent. This means only 29.7 percent of voters voted for Obama. Why was turnout so low? Because the conservative element in this country was not represented by Romney. In the end, the Democrats did not win the election. It was the Republicans who lost it. Oh yeah, and the Democrats cheated their asses off.