5 Things Obama Failed to Address in the NSA Speech

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

President Barack Obama, in a long-awaited speech Friday, proposed a series of changes to the NSA surveillance activities that have cause an uproar of the last few months. He also, however, failed to address a series of important changes that his administration's internal review panel suggested.

What follows are five things that Obama either said won't change or didn't address at all during his NSA speech.

SEE ALSO: Scoring Obama's NSA Speech, Point by Point

1. The other bulk data collection programs

The phone metadata program, which allows the NSA to collect and store virtually all Americans' phone records in a database that its analysts can then query, is coming to an end. Obama supported the proposal, set forth by its internal review panel, to move the database out of NSA's hands.

But what about the bulk collection of Internet metadata, used to build social graphs of Americans' data, based on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act? What about the vast collection of text messages? What about the gathering of millions of email and instant message contact lists, including those that belong to Americans?

Obama didn't address any of this. These programs are probably likely to stay. In fact, the White House praised the "Section 702 program," calling it "valuable" in a fact sheet sent to reporters.

2. Public advocate at the FISA court

The internal NSA review panel recommended the creation of a "Public Interest Advocate" to represent privacy and civil liberties interests before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court." Critics supported such a role because proceedings at the FISA Court currently don't include an adversary meaning, when the government makes a surveillance request, there's no one arguing against it.

Obama didn't call for an advocate — he said there should be a a panel of experts to participate in proceedings at the secretive FISA Court. But they won't intervene in every case. They will have their voice heard only "in significant cases" when the court has to decide on broader decisions related to privacy and how the NSA conducts its surveillance.

A senior administration official defended this decision, arguing that even in normal criminal cases when authorities ask for surveillance warrants a judge decides whether one is warranted without the presence of a public advocate.

"Additional outside views are unnecessary in most cases and would be administratively burdensome," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Mashable.

The FISA court too called the idea of creating a public advocate "unnecessary" and potentially "counterproductive" in a letter sent to the House and Senate intelligence and judiciary committees.

3. NSA efforts to undermine encryption standards

In September, documents leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA has mounted a multi-pronged effort to undermine and weaken encryption and security standards, in order to allow the spy agency to access communications that Internet users believe are secure.

The NSA, and even the FBI, has been accused of undermining encryption by asking to insert a backdoors into companies' software, though both organizations have denied those allegations. The agency also reportedly payed security company RSA $10 million in a secret contract to push for weaker encryption protocols.

In light of these revelations, the internal review panel endorsed strong encryption technology, arguing that the U.S. government should "not in any way subvert, undermine, weaken, or make vulnerable generally available commercial software."

Obama didn't address this in his speech, but a White House spokesperson said Obama and his administration "support the recommendation’s aim to protect the integrity of standards for commercial encryption." But for now, the White House took no concrete step other than asking for a study, which will be prepared by the special assistant for cybersecurity and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a White House spokesperson said.

For experts, this is a key issue.

"The president should clearly and unequivocally state that the policy of the U.S. government is to strengthen, not weaken, cyber security and renounce the practice of having intelligence agencies work to introduce backdoors and other vulnerabilities into commercial products," said Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).

4. Judicial review for National Security Letters

The FBI has used NSLs for years, asking Internet and phone companies to turn over data about their customers. These letters constitute a special kind of administrative subpoena that doesn't require the FBI to get judicial approval before it is issued. The letters and carry gag orders that force recipients not to disclose their existence, not even to the target whose data is being requested, not even after years of the letter being issued.

The experts on the review panel suggested changing this, reforming the law to require a judge's approval for every NSL. Obama endorsed more transparency but not prior judicial oversight.

5. Spying on U.S. companies' data centers around the world

Snowden-leaked documents revealed in October that the NSA has been able to collect vast amounts of Internet users' data by tapping into the links that connect Google and Yahoo data centers.

Obama didn't comment on that, and a White House spokesperson, contacted after the speech, declined to comment.

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Allan Friedman, a cybersecurity expert at the Brookings Institute and co-author of the bookCybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, said Obama couldn't do much regarding the NSA tapping into companies' data center links or undermining encryption because the United States "will continue to do some things like it," and "they are sensitive enough that even talking about them could create more headaches."

Overall though, Friedman said the changes don't amount to a complete overhaul.

"The NSA remains intact, albeit with a few more grown ups in the room to help keep an eye on things," he said in an email to Mashable.

SEE ALSO: Privacy Advocates Sound Off on Obama's Proposed NSA Reforms

On the other hand, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who some critics have said lied for telling Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in March that the NSA was not collecting any data at all on Americans, did not have any qualms with Obama's proposals.

"The president took a measured and thoughtful approach to the initiatives he announced today," he said in a statement posted on DNI's blog. "His reforms are focused on striking the right balance between making sure we have the tools necessary to conduct intelligence, and ensuring that we are being as transparent as possible and abiding by protocols that protect the civil liberties and privacy of all Americans."

http://mashable.com/2014/01/17/obama-failed-address-nsa/