US president Barack Obama said that revelations about surveillance on German Chancellor Angela Merkel have damaged German impressions of US Government. Obama on a joint news interview with Merkel the President sated that he is currently working to restore relations with Germany and other countries ever since Edward Snowden began leaking documents with detailed information about spying operations by the NSA in August of 2013.
Snowden revealed that the NSA had been eavesdropping on Merkel’s phone calls as far back as 2010. “there is no doubt that the Snowden revelations damaged impressions of Germans with respect to the US and government and our intelligence cooperation,” said president Obama.
Obama said that he has been working to review such policies and create greater transparency. Merkel did not the the opportunity to criticize US surveillance, and applauded the US intelligence agencies for their coordination with Germany in combating security threats. “The institutions of the United States of America still continie to provide us with a lot of very significant information and we don’t want to do anything without this,” Merkel said through an English Translator.
Obama said he thought Germans should give the United States the “benefit of the doubt” in light of the two countries’ recent history of cooperation.
In my opinion US agencies of surveillance are in a really bad spot; not only after Snowden but also after Russian threats to reveal US involvement in 9/11. I think that reviewing and passing policies is not currently the best option; agencies will continue to have surveillance of people no matter what policies are in place and I don’t exactly see policies on surveillance ever helping citizens as they help agencies to monitor people but just out in the open.
I think that the reason Edward Snowden decided to reveal the NSA policies and spying on citizens was to uphold the values of truth and liberty. Germany has lost political interest and trust with the US government which is essential for a state relationship with other countries. The solution however is already being planned and executed by President Barack Obama. The real questions are if these new transparency policies will be carried out as planned and intended.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/obama-angela-merkel-nsa_n_6647058.html
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/02/09/uk-usa-spying-obama-idUKKBN0LD22D20150209