The pre-recorded comments were taped after the leak of the NSA tracking peoples’ movements worldwide, including many Americans. Obama insisted that the NSA was doing that because of terrorism, and that without it, weapons of mass destruction would be hitting the New York subway system.
Obama went on to dismiss concerns about overseas abuses, insisting the NSA is “not constrained by laws” on foreign surveillance and can do whatever it wants.
He followed this up with promises of unspecified “reforms,” while continuing to deny any wrongdoing. His comments suggested the reforms wouldn’t involve changing any actual laws or doing anything tangible, but would rather involve asking the NSA to show more “self-restraint” in some unspecified ways.
From Antiwar
