Prior to leaving Washington for a much needed week of vacation President Barack Obama held a press conference where he discussed the NSA surveillance program, troubled relations with Russia, the immigration reform bill, the recent terror threats that forced the closure of 19 embassies and the Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to USA Today.
The first topic that President Obama addressed at the press conference was the National Security Agency's surveillance program that became public after Edward Snowden leaked documents to the Guardian. President Obama announced that plans are under way to make the program more transparent and that he will seek to have laws, including the Patriot Act, tweaked so that there is more oversight involved in the surveillance program, according to CBS News.
"It's not enough for me, as president, to have confidence in these programs," President Obama said. "The American people need to have confidence in them as well. Given the scale of this program, I understand the concerns of those who would worry that it could be subject to abused."
President Obama defended the collection of phone records as an important tool used to combat terrorism and assured people that no government agency is able to listen in on phone calls without first obtaining a warrant, according to the Washington Post.
When asked by NBC News commentator Chuck Todd if he considers Snowden to be a whistle-blower in light of the announced decision to make the NSA surveillance program more transparent President Obama did not mince words.
"I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot," President Obama said. "The fact is, is that Mr. Snowden has been charged with three felonies. If in fact he believes that what he did was right, then, like every American citizen, he can come here, appear before the court with a lawyer and make his case."
President Obama also addressed the recent rift with Russia and why he canceled his summit with President Vladimir Putin.
"Keep in mind that our decision to not participate in the summit was not simply around Mr. Snowden, it had to do with the fact that, frankly, on a whole range of issues where we think we can make some progress, Russia has not moved," President Obama said. "We're going to assess where the relationship can advance U.S. interests and increase peace and stability and prosperity around the world."
"Where it can, we're going to keep on working with them, where we have differences, we're going to say so clearly," President Obama continued. "My hope is that, over time, Mr. Putin and Russia recognize that rather than a zero-sum competition, in fact, if the two countries are working together, we can probably advance the betterment of both peoples."
Jonathan Karl brought up that President Obama had previously said that al-Qaida had been decimated yet embassies throughout the Arab world were forced to close down last weekend due to the threat of an attack. The president pointed out that the core group of al-Qaida is on their heels, but that the group has also splintered into many regional factions, according to the Washington Post.
The President attacked Republican in Congress for continually trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act which is scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1.
"I think the really interesting question is why it is that my friends in the other party have made the idea of preventing these people from getting health care their holy grail," President Obama said. "Their number-one priority. The one unifying principle in the Republican Party at the moment is making sure that 30 million people don't have health care; and presumably, repealing all those benefits I just mentioned - kids staying on their parents' plan, seniors getting discounts on their prescription drugs, I guess a return to lifetime limits on insurance, people with pre-existing conditions continuing to be blocked from being able to get health insurance."
A full transcipt of Presdient Obama's press conference can be found at this link to the Washington Post.
