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Surveillance After Snowden

President Obama’s announced reforms should help restore public confidence in some controversial U.S. surveillance practices, says expert Andrew Weissmann.

By experts and staff

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  • Andrew Weissmann
  • Jonathan Masters
    Deputy Managing Editor

In a major policy speech at the Justice Department, President Obama proposed a number of reforms to U.S. surveillance practices that have generated great controversy in the wake of leaks provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Of these, the most important change will be the creation of an independent panel of advocates at the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, says Andrew Weissmann, former top attorney at the FBI. While a nongovernmental adversary could slow the court’s national security proceedings, the change should bolster public confidence in the top-secret process, Weissmann says.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court operates out of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse near Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo: Courtesy Wikimedia)