In an interview on CNN President Barack Obama defended the National Security Agency's surveillance program by saying that current safeguards to protect the privacy of citizens have worked but will need to be upgraded along with technology, according to Reuters.
Since the surveillance programs were initially revealed to the public by Edward Snowden people have been worried about whether or not the programs violated the privacy of American citizens. The Obama administration has defended the programs saying that any information from American citizens that is taken was done by accident and is discarded.
"There's no doubt that, for all the work that's been done to protect the American people's privacy, the capabilities of the NSA are scary to people," President Obama told CNN. "And, by the way, these aren't unique to the NSA."
President Obama addressed the concern that new technology may move so swiftly that the NSA's ability to snoop may far exceed the laws that are meant to regulate their actions and proper steps need to be taken to ensure that doesn't happen, according to Politico.
"Do some of these systems end up being like a loaded gun out there that somebody at some future point could abuse?" Obama said. "Because there are no allegations, and I am very confident - knowing the NSA and how they operate - that purposefully somebody is out there trying to abuse this program or listen in on people's email."
"What I recognize is that we're going to have to continue to improve the safeguards and as technology moves forward, that means that we may be able to build technologies that give people more assurance," Obama continued.
In the interview President Obama also took a few shots at Congress. When the legislative body returns from their recess they will need to act to approve a budget; many expect the budget fight to be a contentious one as some Republicans have called for a government shut down if the new budget contains any funding that could go toward the Affordable Care Act, according to Politico.
"Congress doesn't have a whole lot of core responsibilities. One core responsibility is passing a budget, which they have not done yet," President Obama said. "The other core responsibility that they've got is to pay the bills that they've already accrued."
"Any time we are not moving forward on things that should be simple, I get frustrated," President Obama continued. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get Congress, and Republicans in Congress in particular, to think less about politics and party and think more about what's good for the country."
