Barack Obama Nsa Quotes & Sayings

The programs that have been discussed over the last couple days in the press are secret in the sense that they are classified but they are not secret in the sense that when it comes to phone calls every member of Congress has been briefed on this program. With respect to all these programs the relevant intelligence committees are fully briefed on these programs. These are programs that have been authorized by broad bipartisan majorities repeatedly since 2006. — Barack Obama

Effective immediately, we will only pursue phone calls that are two steps removed from a number associated with a terrorist organization instead of three. — Barack Obama

I wouldn't consider them acts of war, but I would consider them acts of property damage, commercial theft that are serious. — Barack Obama

What we need to do, is restore those tools that have been taken away by the president [Barack Obama] and others, restore those tools to the NSA and to our entire surveillance and law enforcement community. — Chris Christie

My relationship with Silicon Valley and the tech community historically has been really good. Many of these folks are my friends. — Barack Obama

So I think it's important to understand that your duly elected representatives have been consistently informed about exactly what we're doing. — Barack Obama

Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. — Barack Obama

One of the things we're going to have to discuss and debate is how are we striking this balance between the need to keep the American people safe and our concerns about privacy. Because there are some trade-offs involved. I welcome this debate, and I think it's healthy for our democracy. — Barack Obama

We need to find a way forward to make sure that we can stop terrorists while protecting the privacy, and liberty, of innocent Americans. We have to find a way to give the President the power he needs to protect us, while making sure he doesn't abuse that power. It is possible to do that. We have done it before, we could do it again. — Barack Obama

We can give our intelligence and law enforcement community the powers they need to track down and take out terrorists without undermining our commitment to the rule of law, or our basic rights and liberties. — Barack Obama

The challenges posed by threats like terrorism, proliferation, and cyber attacks are not going away any time soon, and 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. — Barack Obama

Our intelligence agencies will continue to gather information about the intentions of governments - as opposed to ordinary citizens - around the world, in the same way that the intelligence services of every other nation does. We will not apologize simply because our services may be more effective. — Barack Obama

With respect to the Internet and emails, this does not apply to U.S. citizens and it does not apply to people living in the United States. — Barack Obama

A number of countries, including some who have loudly criticized the NSA, privately acknowledge that America has special responsibilities as the world's only superpower, that our intelligence capabilities are critical to meeting these responsibilities, and that they themselves have relied on the information we obtain to protect their own people. — Barack Obama

I don't welcome leaks. There's a reason why these programs are classified. — Barack Obama

US intelligence agencies will only use such data to meet specific security requirements: counterintelligence, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, cybersecurity, force protection for our troops and allies, and combating transnational crime, including sanctions evasion. — Barack Obama

What is portrayed as high-minded positions on issues sometimes is just designed to carve out some of their commercial interests. — Barack Obama

If any individual who objects to government policy can take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will never be able to keep our people safe or conduct foreign policy. — Barack Obama

I'm a strong believer in strong encryption. — Barack Obama

Nobody is listening to your telephone calls. — Barack Obama

The program grew out of a desire to address a gap identified after 9/11 ... The program does not involve the NSA examining the phone records of ordinary Americans. Rather, it consolidates these records into a database that the government can query if it has a specific lead - phone records that the companies already retain for business purposes. — Barack Obama

When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That's not what this program is about ... What the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers, and durations of calls; they are not looking at people's names and they're not looking at content ... If the intelligence committee actually wants to listen to a phone call they have to go back to a federal judge, just like they would in a criminal investigation. — Barack Obama

Those who are troubled by our existing programs are not interested in a repeat of 9/11, and those who defend these programs are not dismissive of civil liberties. The challenge is getting the details right, and that's not simple. — Barack Obama