U.S. President Barack Obama speaks in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday will propose tweaks to the United States’ spying apparatus, but in leaving many of the details to Congress and refusing to embrace some of his own review panel’s recommendations, the former constitutional law professor is virtually certain to leave civil liberties advocates feeling burned.
As the New York Times reported Wednesday morning, the new guidelines are being offered up as sensible restrictions on the vast domestic spying power of the National Security Agency as revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden. Foreigners may enjoy protection from unwarranted snooping, and there will be some limits on the collection of citizens’ telephone data. But telecommunications firms will not be permitted to maintain sole custody of their records, and intelligence agencies will not be required to seek court approval of the “national security letters” that are routinely sent out to providers as a means of quickly scooping up data.
So what we have here is an effort to simultaneously appease civil libertarians outraged at the sheer volume of information the government is collecting about their lives, as well as national security professionals concerned about weakening the world’s most sophisticated intelligence machine. Despite his reputation as a liberal dove back when he sought the presidency in 2008, Obama is now the greatest apologist in Washington for the modern national security state; indeed, the White House believes more robust surveillance might have helped prevent the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001. And yet some of the new practices — like heavily scrutinizing intelligence contractors — could backfire and create more Snowdens by inculcating a culture of mutual distrust in key agencies. And largely cosmetic changes that fail to institute any real safeguards against abuse will only feed the cynicism out there that the government is unwilling to surrender any of its power.
Politically, the changes will only feed the fire on the libertarian right, where rising GOP stars like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul — who has essentially confessed to being a 2016 presidential candidate — have found they can reach young voters normally skeptical of conservatives by railing against the NSA. Democrats, meanwhile, tend to be a bit more reserved in their critiques; indeed, it’s worth noting that the 2016 frontrunner on that side of the aisle, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, remains a (relative) hawk on most foreign policy matters.
But there’s also a global piece to this: the anger generated in Europe over U.S. spying on elected officials like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. There was already plenty of skepticism that Washington would relinquish any of its surveillance power. The president’s tinkering is unlikely to win over many hearts or minds.
