奧巴馬承諾審視NSA監控項目 或把電話數據交由運營商保存

President Obama signaled Friday that he may halt the National Security Agency’s collection and storage of millions of Americans’ phone records and instead require phone companies to hold the data.

Speaking at a White House news conference near the end of a very difficult year, Obama said that he would have a “pretty definitive statement” on proposed NSA reforms in January, following his family’s annual holiday break in Hawaii.

His remarks suggested that Obama’s views have changed significantly since details of the NSA’s far-reaching surveillance programs were publicly revealed in June. He said he believed his administration has struck the right balance between intelligence gathering and privacy protection but acknowledged that concerns about the potential for abuse may make it necessary to rein in the programs to restore public trust.

“The environment has changed,” Obama said. He said that it “matters more that people right now are concerned,” and added, “Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we necessarily should.”

During the 60-minute news conference, Obama also reiterated his claim of personal responsibility for the disastrous rollout of his health-care law. In addition, he expressed optimism that he could advance his agenda in 2014, beginning with immigration reform.

“I think 2014 needs to be a year of action,” Obama said.

The president said his NSA review, based on the assessments of intelligence officials and other officials inside and outside of the federal government, would determine which programs to maintain or eliminate, both domestically and internationally.

An independent White House panel released a report this week questioning whether the NSA’s sweeping collection of personal data had played any meaningful role in preventing terrorist attacks. A federal judge also ruled that the data collection was probably unconstitutional.

Obama acknowledged that the United States needs to provide “more confidence” to the international community amid widespread outrage over revelations of U.S. spying on many foreign allies.

“What has been more challenging is the fact that we do have a lot of laws and checks and balances and safeguards and audits when it comes to making sure that the NSA and other intelligence communities are not spying on Americans,” Obama said. “We’ve had less legal constraint in terms of what we’re doing internationally.”

He added, “In a virtual world, some of these boundaries don’t matter anymore.”

Obama defended the NSA, saying that he has seen no evidence that the agency “acted inappropriately” with the billions of call records it has assembled in a secret database, a claim that is at odds with compliance reports and other documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Obama all but endorsed one of the White House panel’s proposals, which would require phone companies to hold the data that the NSA has been collecting.

“It is possible that some of the same information . . . can be obtained by having private phone companies keep those records longer” and allowing the government to search them under tight guidelines, Obama said.

That prospect has drawn fire from privacy advocates and technology experts, who say it would be as bad as or worse than having the NSA hold the records. Phone companies also do not want to be the custodians of data sought by law enforcement or civil attorneys.

“Mandatory data retention is a major civil liberties problem and something that other groups would oppose categorically,” said Rainey Reitman, activism director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Currently, phone companies keep call records for periods ranging from six months to 10 years.

“Requiring by law that companies retain call records longer than they do for business reasons subjects those records to risk of theft by hackers and subpoena by state and local law enforcement and by civil litigants,” said Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Because many entities other than the NSA would gain access, it is a step backwards for privacy.”

During the news conference, Obama sought to grapple with a year of partisan turmoil in Washington and his inability to advance an ambitious second-term domestic policy agenda through Congress. Initiatives on gun violence and immigration failed or stalled in the face of Republican opposition, and the president was unable to prevent broad spending cuts known as the sequester or a partial shutdown of the federal government.

When asked whether 2013 had been the worst year of his presidency, Obama laughed off the suggestion.

“We have had ups and we have had downs,” Obama said. He added, jokingly, “I think this room has recorded at least 15 near-death experiences.”

He said that despite the disastrous rollout of the online insurance exchanges at the heart of his signature health-care law, more than 1 million people have signed up for new health-care insurance since October.

Obama also noted that statistics released Friday showed the fastest economic growth in two years and said that this month’s budget deal with Congress could be a sign of greater cooperation in Washington.

“It’s probably too early to declare an outbreak of bipartisanship, but it’s also fair to say that we are not condemned to endless gridlock,” Obama said.

Recent polls suggest that record numbers of Americans disapprove of Obama’s job performance and that his earlier advantages over Republicans in Congress have eroded in many areas. Obama dismissed the importance of the results, saying, “My polls have gone up and down a lot through the course of my career.”

Obama defended his selection of openly gay athletes to lead the U.S. delegation at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, considering Russia’s discriminatory laws.

“When it comes to the Olympics and athletic performance, we don’t make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation,” Obama said. He added that this was “a value at the heart of not just America, but American sports.”據美國《華盛頓郵報》12月21日報道，美國總統奧巴馬20日暗示，他可能要求國家安全局（NSA）停止蒐集、存儲美國公民的電話記錄，轉而交由電信運營商保存這些數據。

***態度轉變：“國安局需要改革”

當天，奧巴馬在白宮新聞發佈會上發表講話，稱夏威夷度假結束後，他將在2014年1月份就各方提出的國安局改革建議作出一份“措辭明確的聲明”。

自今年6月國安局大規模監控項目被曝光以來，奧巴馬對監控項目的看法發生了重大轉變。奧巴馬說他相信其政府在情報收集和保護隱私之間取得了平衡，但不得不承認公衆的擔憂不無道理，有必要進行調控以恢復公衆信任。

“環境改變了，更爲重要的是，現在人們很擔心。”奧巴馬說，“僅僅因爲我們有能力做某件事情，不代表就應該做這件事情。” 奧巴馬說，他將聽取政府內外專業人士的評估意見，以此爲基礎審視國安局的監控項目。

奧巴馬雖然承認國安局需要改革，但仍爲其辯護說沒有任何證據顯示國安局“不當使用過”存儲的數十億電話數據。奧巴馬同時認可白宮審查委員會提出的一項改革建議，即要求電信運營商保存國安局蒐集的電話數據，“電信運營商可延長其保存用戶電話數據的時限，通過這種方式保留（國安局蒐集的）部分數據。有需要時，政府須在嚴格遵守相關法規的前提下，對電信運營商保存的數據進行搜索”。目前，美國電信公司保存用戶電話數據的時長從6個月至10年不等。

***招致不滿：被斥爲“隱私權利倒退”

面對美國政府的改革表態，公民隱私權倡導者和科技專家並不買賬，認爲這是“越改越糟”。而電信運營商也不願做“數據託管人”，不想變成執法者或民權律師的騷擾對象。

“強制數據留存是一個重要的公民自由問題，類似事件將遭到某些團體的堅決反對。”非營利國際法律組織“電子前沿基金會”負責人雷尼•賴特曼說。

美國民主與科技中心高級法律顧問格雷戈裏•諾傑姆認爲，通過法律形式要求電信運營商延長用戶數據保存時限，將令這些數據置於遭黑客盜取或被法庭傳訊的危險之中，“除了國安局之外，還會有許多實體獲得訪問權限，這是公民隱私權利的倒退”。

***態度樂觀：“2014年是行動之年”

在這場持續一個小時的新聞發佈會上，奧巴馬錶示對即將到來的2014年持樂觀態度，相信自己能夠繼續推進改革議程，希望“2014年成爲行動之年”。

“黨派紛爭不斷致使奧巴馬在國會推進國內政策議程受阻，甚至導致聯邦政府短暫關門。”媒體認爲，對於奧巴馬而言，2013年是“極其艱難的一年”。當被問及是否認同這個觀點時，奧巴馬回答道：“的確有起有伏，但形勢正在好轉。”

“儘管醫改法案沒有博得‘開堂彩’，但自10月以來已有超過100萬人註冊。並且20日公佈的經濟數據顯示，美國迎來近兩年來最快的經濟增長，而國會本月達成的預算協議也表明兩黨合作變得更加融洽。”奧巴馬說，“宣佈兩黨合作取得突破性進展或許是太早了，但公平地說，我們不會因陷入無盡的僵局而遭受譴責了。”