奥巴马为国安监控项目辩护 Obama Defends NSA Spying Programs

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美国总统奥巴马为政府最机密的监视项目进行辩护,他同时承认,人们普遍担心这些做法正在侵犯美国普通公民的隐私权。

奥巴马星期一晚间接受PBS电视采访时坚持说,国家安全局(NSA)的电话和互联网监视行动是在法律允许范围之内的。

奥巴马说:“我可以毫不犹豫地说,如果你是美国人,国安局不能窃听你的电话,不能把目标对准你的电邮。他们没有这样做。他们不能、也没有这样做,这是法律和规定,---除非他们去法庭申请许可,而通常也不是他们,而是联调局去这样做。”

自从上星期英国《卫报》和美国《华盛顿邮报》披露了国安局秘密监控项目之后,奥巴马总统一直陷于被动。他说,他已经下令情报官员在“不进一步损害这一项目”的前提下,尽可能公布有关信息。

奥巴马还说,他已设立了一个隐私和民权监督委员会来审议国家安全局的做法。

星期一早些时候,《卫报》刊登的一则报道说,从前美国情报合同工、国安监听项目泄密人爱德华·斯诺登那里获取的文件显示,英国曾对出席2009年伦敦20国集团峰会的外交人员进行了窃听。


U.S. President Barack Obama is defending the government's top-secret surveillance programs, while acknowledging widespread concerns the efforts are violating the privacy rights of ordinary Americans.

In a television interview broadcast late Monday on PBS, Mr. Obama insisted the National Security Agency is operating its phone and Internet monitoring efforts within the law.  

He said, "What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls, and the NSA cannot target your emails. And have not.  They cannot and have not, by law and by rule, and unless they - and usually it would not be they, it would be the FBI - go to a court and obtain a warrant."

The president has been under fire since last week's revelations of the NSA programs by the British newspaper The Guardian and The Washington Post.  He says he has ordered intelligence officials to release as much information as possible "without further compromising the program."

Mr. Obama also said he has created a privacy and civil liberties oversight board to review the NSA efforts.

Earlier Monday, a report published in The Guardian said documents obtained from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the man who exposed the NSA programs, show that Britain spied on diplomats attending the 2009 Group of 20 summit in London.