Its not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs, Obama declared at a White House news conference. The American people have to have confidence as well.
Among other things, Obama called for the creation of an outside task force to advise his administration on how to balance civil liberties and security issues. He also said he had directed the intelligence community to make public as much information about the spying programs as possible and directed the NSA to create a website that would be a hub for that information.These steps are designed to make sure the American people can trust that our interests are aligned with our values, Obama said.
Asked about his decision to cancel a September summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Obama admitted that Moscows decision to grant Snowden asylum played a role in the decision, but insisted it wasnt the only factor. He pointed to differences on Syria and human rights and said he believed it was more helpful to take a pause, reassess where Russias going and calibrate the relationship before meeting with the Russian leader.
The latest episode is just one more in a number of emerging differences that weve seen over the last several months, Obama said.
Asked about his relationship with Putin, he downplayed tensions, insisting that their one-on-one meetings have been very productive.I dont have a bad relationship with Putin, Obama said. The conversations with Putin have been candid and blunt and oftentimes they are constructive, he said.
But Obama made clear he was unhappy with Russias decision to give haven to Snowden, telling reporters that he did not regard the former NSA contractor as a patriot for leaking secrets about the nations surveillance programs.
He repeatedly described Snowdens actions as damaging to the country. He criticized Snowden's leaks about the NSA for having come out in incomplete dribs and drabs that have left a general impression ... that somehow we are out there willy-nilly just sucking in information about everybody and doing whatever we want with it.
Thats not the case, Obama insisted.
Obama argued that there were other avenues that Snowden could have taken and called for him to return to the U.S. and go to court to make his case that what he did is right.
Obamas news conference comes ahead of what is expected to be a bruising budget battle with Congress and a possible government shutdown as Republicans again attempt to repeal Obamas health care law by defunding it.
The president called the GOP effort to overturn Obamacare an ideological fixation but declined to say whether he would allow the government to be shut down over the issue calling it a hypothetical.
But, he added, the idea that you would shut down the government unless you prevent 30 million people from getting health care is a bad idea.
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