Page 19 - Surveillance Programs News Today

Operating, and im confident that at this point we have struck the appropriate balance. some people say, well, obama was this raving liberal before, and now hes dick cheney, and dick cheney sometimes says -- you know, he took lock, stock and barrel -- my concern has always been not that we shouldnt do intelligence gathering to prevent that terrorism, but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances? >> now, its unlikely the president is going to please privacy advocates today who want...

And i also know that in this time of change, the united states of america will have to lead. it may seem sometimes that america is being held to a different standard. and ill admit, the readiness of some to assume the worst motives by our government can be frustrating. no one expects china to have an open debate about their surveillance programs. or russia to take privacy concerns of citizens and other places into account. but lets remember, we are held to a different standard, precisely because...

The nsa. this was not a rejection of the surveillance programs. it was an attempt to largely defend why the surveillance programs are necessary and yes, we understand youre not happy so here are a few things well do to make it more transparent or make it sort of -- change it in some way but were not going to fundamentally alter what president obama frankly still thinks judging from his record is the right thing to be doing. >> now, in total switching gears, i wanted to touch base as we go into t...

The justice department today to deliver his long-awaited plan to reform the nations spy efforts. the president is expected to call for more oversight and transparency of spy agencies but hes not expected to announce any major changes to surveillance programs. one soldier is dead, two others injured after a helicopter crash in georgia. they were members of an elite special operations known as night stalkers. they run dangerous missions like the raid on osama bin laden. this blackhawk helicopter...

Theres powers that the president has to direct the agencies, which, of course, are executive agencies, then theres probably changes to laws which must be made. the original author of the patriot act, congressman sensenbrenner now has legislation that would significantly reduce the scope of the powers that were created by his original patriot act legislation. were going to need to work with the president. by the way, that raises serious questions. congress hasnt exactly distinguished itself in th...

Aisle here that something needs to be done as far as surveillance programs. how optimistic are you about things being done about this? >> part of the reason the president is speaking out on these issues is the public outcry globally. you can see the president is playing to a global stage. the domestic stage has to do with the fact republicans and democrats have finally gotten together on a legislative proposal. you have the freedom act. it would revise the patriot act. to be able to codify these...

Tragedy here in the united states. its really the first opportunity we had to look back at these ten or 11 years and say did we get the balance right. personally, im told the president is going to talk about reducing the pervasiveness of some of the surveillance programs, the met data, collection programs. i think thats important, personally. this is the first time an awful lot of americans thought about the fisa court, which is an important work in protecting civil liberties, but few know about...

Felt complacent about the potential impact of these programs. those of us who hold office in america have a responsibility to our constitution and while i was confident in the integrity of those who lead our intelligence community, it was clear to me in observing our intelligence operations on a regular basis that changes in our technological capabilities were raising new questions about the privacy safeguards currently in place. moreover, after an extended review of our use of drones in the fig...

I or others in my administration felt complacent about the potential impact of these programs. those of us who hold office in america have a responsibility to our constitution, and while i was confident in the integrity of those who lead our intelligence community, it was clear to me in observing our intelligence operations on a regular basis that changes in our technological capabilities were raising new questions about the privacy safeguards currently in place. moreover, after an extended revi...

So in the absence of institutional requirements for regular debate, and oversight that is public as well as private, or classified, the danger of government overreach becomes more acute. much. and this is particularly true when surveillance technology and our reliance on digital information is evolving much faster than our laws. for all these reasons i maintained a healthy skepticism towards our surveillance programs after i became president. i ordered that our programs be reviewed my by nationa...