Lawmakers Keep Pushing for NSA Reform After Meeting With Obama

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By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-01-09 22:22:54 UTC

Obama met with a group of 16 U.S. lawmakers on Thursday to discuss reforms to the National Security Agency surveillance programs exposed by documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Details of the high-level summit haven't come out, but after the meeting, some legislators from both parties made clear they'll keep pushing for meaningful reforms.

Rumors of impending proposals from Obama have been swirling for a few days. But the White House somewhat downplayed the meeting by defining it as "an opportunity for the President to hear from the Members about the work they have been doing on these issues" and "solicit their input," according to a statement from Obama's press office.

See also: The NSA and Your iPhone: What You Need to Know

For Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the loudest critics of NSA surveillance over the past few years, the meeting emphasized once again that the time to make changes is now.

"It is a crucial time for those who believe that security and liberty are not mutually exclusive to make their voices heard," Wyden said in a statement emailed to Mashable. "I will continue to urge my colleagues and the American people to stand with the side of meaningful reform and call for the ending of invasive surveillance practices."

Wyden's sentiment was echoed by Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"It's increasingly clear that we need to take legislative action to reform," he said in a statement, according to the National Journal . "If the president believes we need a bulk collection program of telephone data, then he needs to break his silence and clearly explain to the American people why it is needed for our national security. [...] Americans' civil liberties are at stake in this debate."

The bulk telephone metadata collection program Goodlatte referred to is the first top secret program exposed by The Guardian in early June, which gives the NSA access to virtually all American's phone call records.

A bill introduced by Patriot Act author Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who was also attending the meeting at the White House, would put an end to that program.

Goodlatte's words, notes independent blogger Marcy Wheeler, an expert in surveillance issues, are especially meaningful since the Republican isn't precisely known for his strong opposition to the NSA.

"If the President has not yet been able to convince Goodlatte the phone dragnet is necessary, if Goodlatte walks out of meeting with the President calling to legislatively roll back the phone dragnet, it might just have a shot at passing," she wrote on her blog, referring to comprehensive NSA reform.

As Mashable learned earlier this week, Obama is expected to deliver "remarks" on the findings by the administration's NSA review panel, which, at the end of December, recommended several changes, some of which have been put forth by NSA critics themselves.

Meanwhile, in an interview with NPR , Deputy Director of the NSA John Inglis said the agency would be OK with one of those changes: the creation of a public advocate.

Such a figure could challenge government surveillance requests made in the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Right now, when the government makes such a requests in front of the FISC, no other party challenges it, and it's only up to the judge to approve it. Because of this non-adversarial nature of the FISC, some have called it a "rubber stamp" court.

Inglis said the NSA "would welcome" a public advocate, but that "it needs to be operationally efficient."

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Topics: Barack Obama, NSA, Politics, surveillance, U.S., US & World