Politics
Obama bans spying on leaders of U.S. allies, proposes new limits on NSA phone collections program
He asked Attorney General Eric Holder and the intelligence community to report back to him before the metadata program comes up for reauthorization on March 28 on how to preserve the necessary capabilities of the program, without the government holding the metadata.
In addition, Obama said the U.S. the government will need a judicial review by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court every time intelligence agencies want to check the database of millions of telephone calls unless there is a true emergency.
“The biggest deal is going to the court each time,” said retired General Michael Hayden, a former director of both the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The usefulness of keeping metadata phone records has been questioned by a review panel appointed by Obama. It found that while the program had produced some leads for counter-terrorism investigators, such information, had not proven decisive in a single case.
Among a list of reforms, Obama also called on Congress to establish an outside panel of privacy advocates for the FISA Court that considers terrorism cases. The former chief judge of the FISA court had opposed such a step.
Members of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence called for more restraint on the NSA.
Obama made clear that his administration’s anger at Snowden’s revelations has not abated. Snowden, living in asylum in Russia, is wanted on espionage charges, although some Americans would like him to be granted amnesty for exposing secrets they feel needed to be made public.
