Obama bares reforms on US surveillance
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama announced new oversight measures for recently revealed domestic and foreign surveillance programs, saying he is confident they are “not being abused” but that they must be more transparent.
He gave no indication the government would end the massive collection of information about telephone calls and e-mails of Americans and those abroad.
Recent leaks about the surveillance programs have led to the strongest challenge yet to the vast powers Congress granted the president after the 2001 terror attacks on the United States
In his first news conference since April, Obama also explained this week’s decision to cancel a summit next month with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He said he’s had only “mixed” success in resetting the tense relationship between the two countries.
Russia’s recent decision to grant asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden was not the only reason for canceling the meeting, Obama said. Snowden, a former analyst, revealed details of the secret surveillance programs, and the United States wants him to come home to face espionage charges.
Obama encouraged Putin to “think forward instead of backward” on a long list of issues, including Syria’s civil war and human rights, and he said his administration was pausing to determine how best to improve the countries’ difficult relationship.
In wide-ranging comments lasting nearly an hour, Obama also said it would not be appropriate to boycott the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi over Russia’s new antigay law.
And the president declined to confirm a series of drone strikes recently reported carried out in Yemen to deter a suspected terrorist plot.