Obama Plans to Reform NSA Spying Programs and Increase Transparency

In his most direct response to the NSA spying controversy yet, President Obama announced this afternoon that he’ll pursue reforms to the mass surveillance program, in an effort to restore public trust, which has been dwindling as more details are leaked about the government's widespread data collection.

”This program is an important tool in our effort to disrupt terrorist plots, but given the scale of those programs I understand the concerns of those who worry that it could be subject to abuse,” Obama said at a White House press conference.

In addition to a four-point reform plan, the president ordered increased transparency about the NSA programs, starting with a website that will serve as a hub of information on the domestic surveillance programs.

Obama said he would work to tighten the provision of the Patriot Act, Section 215, that broadened the government's power to collect data from citizens' phone records, to provide “greater constraints on the use of this authority.”

He also announced he plans to work with members of Congress on their proposals to take a closer look at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, namely to make sure the court is receiving a balanced argument on the constitutionality of the programs, and not only the government’s side of the story—a common criticism of the secret court. The plan is to appoint an "adversary" voice to advocate for privacy and civil rights protections during court hearings.

In that vein, the president promised to release a 2011 FISA court ruling that found part of the NSA's dragnet spying unconstitutional—documents the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been tied up in lawsuits trying to obtain for years.

BREAKING: Obama admin to release redacted FISA court opinion ruling some NSA spying unconstitutional to @EFF https://t.co/mnv3DlJUZE

— EFF (@EFF) August 9, 2013

In the name of transparency, the NSA released documents to the public with details on the method and purpose of the metadata collection program—the most information revealed yet about the top-secret program.

The documents explain the government’s legal basis for data collection, as authorized by the FISA court. A paper offers new information on the scope and scale of the metadata collection:

According to figures published by a major tech provider, the Internet carries 1,826 Petabytes of information per day. In its foreign intelligence mission, NSA touches about 1.6% of that. However, of the 1.6% of the data, only 0.025% is actually selected for review. The net effect is that NSA analysts look at 0.00004% of the world's traffic in conducting their mission—that's less than one part in a million. Put another way, if a standard basketball court represented the global communications environment, NSA's total collection would be represented by an area smaller than a dime on that basketball court.

The transparency push is an attempt to set the record straight on what the NSA surveillance programs do, and don't do, the president said. He criticized the sensational way the news had been disseminated to the public "drip by drip," as new information is leaked by whistleblowers and reported in the press. The result is a scattered, and in some cases inaccurate public perception about the program, he claimed.

The swelling controversy reached a fever pitch over the last week, after Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden, who's still being pursued on felony charges for leaking confidential NSA intelligence. Obama said this afternoon that he doesn’t consider Snowden a patriot, but did admit that his whisteblowing launched an important public conversation about the domestic surveillance practices.

"There's no doubt that Mr. Snowden's leaks triggered a much more rapid and passionate response then would have been the case," Obama said. "In light of that, it makes sense for us to go ahead, lay out exactly what it is we are doing, have a discussion with congress, have a discussion with the industry…have a discussion with civil libertarians, and see, can we do this better.”

Earlier today, Obama met with tech executives to discuss privacy concerns over online data collection. The president said he wants to restore public confidence in order to move forward with the intelligence gathering, which he said is crucial for preventing terrorist threats.