Today Reuters reported that at the coming G8 event, President Obama will defend the NSA’s surveillance and data collection programs that have recently caused a sensation both at home, and in foreign media.
The United States’ intelligence community, it was recently unveiled, collects so-called ‘metadata’ on each and every phone call placed inside the United States, and has for years. A program called ‘PRISM’ was also recently unearthed, detailing an Internet surveillance system that has unsettled many.
The phone program is already under legal challenge.
According to Reuters, President Obama’s deputy national security advisor announced the decision to defend the practices at the G8 talks in the coming week. He will detail privacy curbs, and as well as why – in administration view – they are key to fighting terrorism.
Other countries, given that the programs target foreign citizens, have a quite obvious interest in what the US is up to. You can be sure about this: Without the leaks of Snowden, and the efforts of the Washington Post and the Guardian, President Obama would be giving a very different lecture.
Top Image Credit: TexasGOPVote.com
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