Obama Hints at Changes in NSA Collection of Phone Data
In the meantime, Obama’s language in a news conference Friday at the White House marked a significant shift from his previous defenses of the spy agency. In June, when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures of information about the agency’s activities were made public, Obama tried to reassure Americans that his administration had carefully evaluated surveillance techniques and had struck an appropriate balance between security and privacy.
Since then, Obama said, “the environment has changed” because of the impact of Snowden’s revelations on public perceptions of government surveillance.
“I have confidence in the fact that the NSA is not engaging in domestic surveillance or snooping around,” Obama said. But, he added, “we may have to refine this further to give people more confidence. And I’m going to be working very hard on doing that.”
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