Description

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On August 27, 2013, the President announced the creation of the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies. The immediate backdrop for the Review Group's work was a series of disclosures of classified information involving foreign intelligence collection by the National Security Agency. The disclosures revealed intercepted collections that occurred inside and outside of the United States and that included the communications of United States persons and legal permanent residents, as well as non-United States persons located outside the United States. A robust foreign intelligence collection capability is essential if we are to protect ourselves against such threats. Because our adversaries operate through the use of complex communications technologies, the National Security Agency, with its impressive capabilities and talented officers, is indispensable to keeping our country and our allies safe and secure. At the same time, the United States is deeply committed to the protection of privacy and civil liberties-fundamental values that can be and at times have been eroded by excessive intelligence collection. The Review Group's report recommends a number of changes to our intelligence collection activities that will protect these values without undermining what we need to do to keep our nation safe.