U.S. President Barack Obama (Reuters/Larry
Downing – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
Jurnal National melaporkan (reported)
pada hari Selasa bahawa presiden telah meminta pengerusi dan kedudukan
ahli-ahli Dewan Negara dan Dewan Rakyat Badan Kehakiman dan Perisikan
jawatankuasa untuk menghadiri mesyuarat rahsia, serta kakitangan kanan White
House dan lain-lain “pemain utama” dalam Kongres yang mempunyai mengkritik
operasi NSA, termasuk Senator Mark Udall (D-Colorado), Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) dan Rep Jim Sensenbrenner (R- Wisconsin) .
“Ia masih tidak jelas dengan
tepat apa yang Obama mahu berbincang,” Jurnal ini Dustin Volz melaporkan pada
hari Selasa, “tetapi pembantu mengharapkan dia untuk mena-warkan beberapa
pembaharuan dalam usaha untuk mendapatkan sokongan dari ahli parlimen.”
Mesyuarat Khamis akan datang 7
bulan-ke-hari selepas bekas kontraktor NSA Edward
Snowden mendedahkan dirinya menjadi orang yang bertanggungjawab untuk
mengambil harta dokumen terperingkat memperincikan mereka operasi pengawasan
dan bocor (leaking)
ia kepada ahli-ahli media.
Laporan ditulis oleh wartawan
di beberapa agensi berita terbesar di DUNIA telah sejak digunakan dokumen untuk
mendedahkan taktik pengintip sebelum ini tidak diterbitkan dan meragukan
undang-undang yang diperjuangkan oleh NSA, orang-orang seperti yang telah
mendorong panggilan untuk pembaharuan yang meluas daripada orang-orang seperti Udall, Wyden,
Sensenbrenner dan pengkritik lain di dalam dan di luar Kongres.
Bulan lepas, sekumpulan kajian 5-orang
dipasang oleh Pres. Obama menyampaikan White House dengan laporan mencadangkan (recommendations)
bahawa NSA memper-timbangkan puluhan cadangan bertujuan untuk reformasi beberapa
operasi terdedah melalui kebocoran Mr Snowden ini.
Selepas laporan yang telah siap
tetapi sebelum presiden pergi bercuti pada akhir Disember, Obama berkata beliau
akan membuat “kenyataan cukup muktamad tentang semua ini pada bulan Januari.”
Presiden kini dijangka untuk
menimbang dalam kepada orang-orang cadangan umum dalam Negeri tahunan alamat
Union pada 28 Januari di Washington, tetapi sementara itu Journal melaporkan
bahawa Rumah Putih mungkin menggunakan mesyuarat minggu ini untuk membincangkan
secara peribadi butiran potensi mengenai NSA pembaharuan.
Operasi Kerajaan terdedah
melalui mereka kebocoran telah mengaitkan NSA untuk mengumpul risikan (gathering
intelligence) mengenai Amerika dan menjalankan peman-tauan ke atas
pemimpin-pemimpin negara-negara bersekutu (leaders of allied
nations). Percubaan untuk mengekang program-program dalam bulan-bulan sejak
kebocoran bermula pada bulan Jun telah berterusan, walaupun sebahagian besarnya
tidak Berjaya (unsuccessful).
Setelah penerbitan baru-baru
ini cadangan kumpulan kajian semula itu, bagaimanapun, presiden dapat mencari
dirinya tekan untuk mengamalkan sekurang-kurangnya beberapa cadangan yang
dibuat oleh panel yang dipilih tangan beliau.
“Jelas sekali, laporan ini
bercakap kepada apa yang saya dengar bukan sahaja dari orang di sini tetapi di
seluruh DUNIA: bahawa mereka tahu bahawa kebebasan dan keselamatan tidak saling
eksklusif,” Senator Wyden memberitahu akhbar Guardian
di UK bulan lepas. “Ada yang besar, pembaharuan yang bermakna dalam hal ini.”
Jawatankuasa Kehakiman Senat
sebelum ini dijadualkan mendengar (hearing)
pada Selasa depan, 14 Januari, di mana ahli-ahlinya akan membincangkan penemuan
kumpulan kajian NSA dengan ahli-ahli panel yang bertanggungjawab untuk laporan.
OBAMA
inviting top NSA Critics to private meeting
at White House . . .
United States President Barack
Obama will reportedly hold a closed-door meeting with select officials on
Thursday this week to discuss in private the future of the controversial
surveillance operations waged by the National Security Agency.
The National Journal reported
on Tuesday that the president has asked the chairmen and ranking members of the
Senate and House of Representatives Judiciary and Intelligence committees to
attend the secret meeting, as well as senior White House staffers and other
“key players” in Congress who have been critical of the NSA’s operations,
including Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rep Jim
Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin).
“It remains unclear precisely
what Obama wants to discuss,” the Journal’s Dustin Volz reported on Tuesday,
“but aides expect him to offer some reforms in an attempt to garner support
from the lawmakers.”
Thursday’s meeting will come
seven months-to-the-day after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed himself to be
the man responsible for taking a trove of classified documents detailing those
surveillance operations and leaking them to
members of the media.
Reports penned by journalists
at some of the biggest news agencies in the world have since used those
documents to expose previously unpublished and questionably legal spy tactics
waged by the NSA, the likes of which have prompted calls for widespread reform
from the likes of Udall,
Wyden, Sensenbrenner and other critics both in and out of Congress.
Last month, a five-person
review group assembled by Pres. Obama presented the White House with a report
recommending that the NSA consider dozens of recommendations
meant to reform some of the operations exposed through Mr. Snowden’s leaks.
After that report was completed
but before the president went on vacation in late December, Obama said he’d
make a "pretty definitive statement about all of this in January."
The president is now expected
to weigh in on those recommendations publically during the annual State of the
Union address scheduled for January 28 in Washington, but meanwhile the Journal
is reporting that the White House may be using this week’s meeting to discuss
in private the potential details about NSA reform.
Government operations exposed
through those leaks have linked the NSA to gathering
intelligence on Americans and conducting surveillance on the leaders of allied
nations. Attempts to rein in those programs in the months since the leaks
started in June have been ongoing, albeit largely unsuccessful.
Upon the recent publishing of
the review group’s recommendations, however, the president could find himself
press to adopt at least some of the suggestions made by his hand-picked panel.
“Clearly, this report speaks to
what I’ve heard not just from people here but around the world: that they know
that liberty and security are not mutually exclusive,” Sen. Wyden told the UK’s
Guardian
newspaper last month. "There are substantial, meaningful reforms in this.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee
has previously scheduled a hearing
for next Tuesday, January 14, in which its members will discuss the NSA review
group’s findings with the panelists responsible for the report.
READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/mswycv
