Obama promised to make intelligence programs more transparent

US President Barack Obama held a press conference at the White House yesterday, where he announced four reforms that he said would increase public transparency and awareness of the programs of the NSA and other American intelligence services, The Verge writes .

“As a president, it’s not enough for me to be confident in these programs, the American people should also be confident in them,” Obama said. “To other people from all over the world, I want to make it clear once again that America is not interested in spying on ordinary people. Our intelligence is focused primarily on finding the information necessary to protect our people, and in many cases to protect our allies. ”

As stated by Obama: “It’s true that we have significant opportunities. What is also true is that we are capable of self-control, which many governments around the world do not even think about. ” He said that the announced reforms were conceived as a result of the conversations he had with members of Congress and defenders of civil liberties who were concerned about the intelligence activity revealed as a result of leaking documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
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“Given the history of government abuse, asking questions about intelligence is right,” Obama said. “Especially since technology changes every aspect of our lives.” The president also noted that while intelligence critics are patriots, “I don’t think Mr. Snowden is a patriot,” and the government still accuses him of having committed three crimes. But he added: "There is no doubt that the leak from Mr. Snowden caused a quick and much more emotional reaction."

So, four proposed reforms:

• The amendment of section 215 of the Patriotic Act, which is part of the legislation allowing the NSA to collect data on telephone conversations of all clients of US cellular operators. The president did not specify what changes would be made, confining himself to the words “more control, more transparency and restrictions on the use of this power,” but said he would work with Congress on changing the law. As part of the immediate action, the White House issued a document detailing its interpretation of section 215 .
• Reforming the US Court of Foreign Intelligence Supervision Cases (FISA Court), which is reviewing requests from the NSA for cellular and Internet tracking. The court will be represented by a lawyer who will challenge these requests on behalf of the public. As Obama admitted, the court had previously heard only “one side of the case” - the government. The White House also promised to publicize the 2011 FISA court decision, which determined some espionage to be unconstitutional, and is going to send it on August 12 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has long been involved in the legal process, to receive this decision.
• Creation in the NSA of the post of director of confidentiality and civil liberties. As for the entire US intelligence community, which includes the NSA and the CIA, a new website will be launched, which will include more information about the activities of the relevant agencies.
• The creation of an independent advisory group of "independent experts", which will be allowed to review intelligence activities and publish a public report within two months and a final report at the end of the year. Obama did not clarify whether the committee will have the authority to somehow change things or whether the government will follow the committee’s proposals.

As noted by The Verge, the reforms look designed not so much for the actual change of the state of affairs, as for a change in public perception. In the previous months, Obama has repeatedly defended intelligence, and recently intelligence agencies have been allowed to continue tracking phone calls. The American Civil Liberties Union, a longtime opponent of Obama, called the announced refomes necessary, but more than insufficient.