Barack Obama pledges greater surveillance transparency - BBC News

9 August 2013 Last updated at 16:30 ET President Barack Obama: "The American people need to have confidence in these programmes" Continue reading the main story New US-Russia chill US revelations Snowden's options Spying on allies President Barack Obama has promised "appropriate reforms" to guarantee greater oversight of controversial US surveillance programmes. At a White House news conference, he proposed "safeguards against abuse", including amending legislation on the collection of telephone data. Mr Obama also urged allowing a lawyer to challenge decisions by the nation's secretive surveillance court. He has been defending the programmes since they were leaked in June. Mr Obama said on Friday that the US "can and must be more transparent" about its snooping on phone and internet data. "Given the history of abuse by governments, it's right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives," he told reporters. "It's not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programmes," Mr Obama added. "The American people need to have confidence as well." Snowden 'no patriot' Mr Obama unveiled four steps aimed at reassuring Americans about the surveillance: He said he would work with Congress to reform Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which governs the programme that collects telephone records He directed justice officials to make public the legal rationale for the government's phone-data collection activities, under Section 215 He proposed allowing an attorney to challenge the government's position on the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court He announced the formation of a group of external experts to review all US government intelligence and communications technologies The president went on to accuse Russia of "backward" thinking, following its decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed details of the secretive surveillance programmes to media. Although he played down talk of a serious diplomatic rift with Moscow, Mr Obama said there had been more anti-American rhetoric since President Vladimir Putin returned to Russian presidency. He said that during photocalls with President Putin, the Russian leader "has got that kind of slouch, looking like he's the bored kid in the back of the classroom". But he said their discussions in private had been constructive. In response to a journalist's question about Mr Snowden, Mr Obama said: "No, I don't think Mr Snowden was a patriot." The White House this week cancelled a planned summit between Mr Obama and Mr Putin next month in Moscow. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGjF_GHRnJzabjYk5Uy0pvvwuyG2g&url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23642880

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