Two months after National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden sparked a public debate aboutgovernment surveillance, President Obama today is outlining a series of reforms to the NSA's controversial programs.
At a White House news conference, the president will discuss the need for "greater transparency and ... reforms to help build public confidence in our surveillance programs and our intelligence community," according to a senior administration official.
The White House, however, insists the steps are not a direct response to Snowden's leaks. It is a debate the president has "encouraged," according to the official.
"The president has been focused on these issues for some time," the official said. "We don't think unauthorized disclosures are the right way to precipitate a debate and the reason for that is that information is not put forward in a way that has protections for our national security concerns."
In his second formal White House news conference of his second term, the president will announce that he is working with Congress to pursue reforms to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows for the collection of metadata associated with telephone records.
"The president does believe that, given the scale of the program and the collection under the program, that there are additional concerns about the potential for abuse," according to a senior administration official.
In an effort to boost transparency, the Department of Justice today is releasing the legal rationale for the government's collection activities under section 215.
The NSA is also taking steps, including the creation of a civil liberties officer position, to increase accountability. LINK
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