'Nobody is listening to your calls': Obama's evolution on NSA surveillance

[AdamSmith]

'Nobody is listening to your calls': Obama's evolution on NSA surveillance

A brief history of the president's position on NSA reforms since first commenting on the surveillance revelations in June

• Adam Gabbatt in New York
• theguardian.com, Friday 9 August 2013 17.46 EDT

Barack Obama insisted on Friday that the NSA reforms he has proposed would have happened all along and that his views on surveillance programs had "not evolved". But since the president first responded to Edward Snowden's revelations in June he has rejected any suggestion that more safeguards were required.

Friday 7 June

In his first remarks since the Guardian and the Washington Post's revelations, Obama gave a frank rebuttal to privacy concerns. "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls," the president said when asked about the NSA.

He said surveillance programs were "fully overseen not just by Congress but by the Fisa court, a court specially put together to evaluate classified programs to make sure that the executive branch, or government generally, is not abusing them".

He said the NSA programs made "modest encroachments on privacy" and were under "very strict supervision by all three branches of government".

"We've got congressional oversight and judicial oversight," he said. "And if people can't trust not only the executive branch but also don't trust Congress and don't trust federal judges to make sure that we're abiding by the constitution, due process and rule of law, then we're going to have some problems here."

Obama added: "In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential, you know – you know, program run amok. But when you actually look at the details, then I think we've struck the right balance."

Monday 17 June

Obama defended the NSA program in an interview with Charlie Rose. The president insisted the NSA was "transparent".

"What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a US person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls, and the NSA cannot target your emails … and have not," Obama said.

Asked by Rose if the method of telephone and data collections "should be transparent in some way", the president responded: "It is transparent. That's why we set up the Fisa court."

The president said he was confident the necessary system of checks and balances was in place, but conceded the public might not fully be aware of this. "What I've asked the intelligence community to do is see how much of this we can declassify without further compromising the program."

Speaking to Rose he revealed he had set up an "oversight board" to examine issues of privacy, compiled of independent citizens and "including some fierce civil libertarians". Obama said he would be meeting with the oversight board, but did not give any further details.

Tuesday 6 August

Two months after the initial NSA revelations, Obama accepted the NSA had "raised a lot of questions for people" in an interview on NBC's Tonight Show, but insisted surveillance programs did not target US civilians.

"We don't have a domestic spying program," Obama said. "What we do have is some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address that is connected to a terrorist attack. … That information is useful."

He said the NSA was "a critical component to counter-terrorism".

Friday 9 August

"It's not enough for me, as president, to have confidence in these programs. The American people need to have confidence in them as well," Obama said in a speech at the White House, hours after the Guardian revealed that an NSA loophole did allow for warrantless searches of databases for US citizens' emails and phone calls.

The president said he had consulted with Congress, the privacy and civil liberties oversight coard and had directed his national security team to "be more transparent and to pursue reforms of our laws and practices".

"And so today I'd like to discuss four specific steps, not all-inclusive, but some specific steps that we're going to be taking very shortly to move the debate forward."

Obama pledged to re-examine section 215 of the Patriot Act, potentially reigning in bulk surveillance, and suggested appointing a privacy advocate to monitor to the doings of the Fisa court. He also announced a new website to "inform" Americans about bulk surveillance and pledged greater transparency.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/obama-evolution-nsa-reforms

[RA1]

I agree no one is listening to my call, not even the person I called.

I know some think I have a one track mind but let me ask this question: If a Republican President had done the things that BO has done would there not be a huge hue and cry about it all? Here I refer to the NSA, the IRS, the Benghazi fiasco, the closing of embassies and a few other "indiscretions".

Can't Beau fend for himself alone at the White House with the entire staff there to look after him without spending $35,000 to bring him to Martha's Vineyard on a Marine OV-22?

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

Well, was there much, or effective, hue & cry when W. started some of the snooping programs? Hard to think of a time since Watergate when the executive has been effectively checked. The example of Clinton's impeachment proceedings only served to make the notion even less credible, a pity for the public welfare.

[AdamSmith]

P.S. That second Osprey was not operated solely for the benefit of the pooch. It also carried staff and Secret Service. Did the weight of one canine really add $35,000 to the flight cost?

[RA1]

Heaven only knows. I do not. But I suspect that this Prez likes to be among the rich and famous who spend money like drunken sailors. I think he assumes it is among the perks of the prez. Maybe it is but not with millions not working and many millions more under-employed or only having "part time" jobs. It is estimated that 70% or more of the "new" jobs "created" during BO's term were part time jobs and therefore not eligible for insurance or other bennies.

I do not only point a finger at BO, many pols qualify.

Best regards,

RA1