US sees no alternative for NSA spying

NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander has told industry officials that developing the new technology would take at least three years.

Despite the recent US spying scandal and the pledges by the Obama administration to restraint Washington’s surveillance efforts, President Barack Obama and his top advisers have concluded that there is no alternative for now to the controversial National Security Agency’s programs.

The New York Times reports that the administration may hold the information the NSA has collected so far for three years instead of five, while it seeks new technologies that would permit it to search the records of telephone and Internet companies, rather than collect the data in bulk in government computers.

NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander has told industry officials that developing the new technology would take at least three years. And President Obama has said nothing publicly about specific steps he is weighing in response to the disclosures of the NSA spying programs.

Edward J. Snowden, the former contractor of the agency, first revealed documents in June that the NSA is collecting phone calls data and email records of many Americans and foreign nationals.

In the latest revelation, Snowden has said that Washington also spied on phone calls of at least 35 world leaders, including those of heads of friendly states.

The Obama administration told allies that it is considering reining in a variety of NSA practices overseas. But the NY Times report says no practical step has yet been taken.

The report said Gen. Alexander and National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper Jr. have shown little willingness, in public testimony, to make major changes.

Despite growing pressure on the White House, it doesn’t seem that the administration’s pledges can quell the protests in Europe or assuage critics at home.

ARA/ARA

Source: Press TV