On January 17, President Obama delivered a speech in which he outlined future changes to the National Security Agencys (NSA) surveillance programs. The president spent a lot of time discussing transparency and accountability. He even said that for our intelligence community to be effective over the long haul, we must maintain the trust of the American people and people around the world. Obama then outlined the changes he wishes to make, I suppose with the faint hope of selling Americans on a shiny new future thats totally abuse free. Forgive me if I seem a little skeptical (Obama would plant a camera in your bathroom if he could). The reality is that its impossible to have both robust security and adequate transparency. And because of that, weve finally come to the security crossroads. Obama knows it, and hes planning accordingly. If he doesnt seem worried, its because he has plenty of experience hawking transparency to the American people (just look at his campaign leading up to the 2008 election). But no matter what Obama says, at the end of the day, NSA transparency and security accountability are pipe dreams.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 07:16:22 +0000