REASON MAGAZINE4 Hours Ago

5 Deceptions From Obama About NSA Surveillance

by Ed Krayewski

OFAEdward Snowden's disclosures about the National Security Agency have put President Barack Obama and his subordinates in the White House and the intelligence community on the defensive. And to defend the program, they've relied on intentionally misleading or outright untrue claims. Here are 5 examples:

White House1. "I welcome this debate, and I think it's healthy for our Democracy. I think it's a sign of maturity because probably five years ago, six years ago, we might not have been having this debate." —Obama press conference, June 7, 2013.

On June 7, the revelation that the NSA was collecting Verizon phone records was a major disclosure. But the story was very similar to a 2006 disclosure that the NSA was collecting phone records from Verizon and other telecom companies. That news, naturally, also fostered a debate about the NSA's program. Indeed, the revelation helped illustrate how President George W. Bush and his administration overstepped constitutional boundaries in the aftermath of 9/11 and the course of the "war on terror." In the 2008 campaign, Obama cultivated the perception that his stance toward the "balance" between security and liberty leaned heavily toward liberty. His 2008 rhetoric would be impossible if we were unable to be "having this debate" then.

5 Deceptions From Obama About NSA Surveillance
http://reason.com/archives/2013/08/27/5-deceptions-from-obama-about-nsa-survei

John Hames