Obama to deliver speech on leaks on Friday after NSA review

Washington: US President Barack Obama would deliver a speech on Friday to present the outcomes of his administration’s recent review of the national security leaks that made public the secretive telephone and Internet surveillance program. “Actually, it’s getting close. So I’ll have quite a bit to say about that very soon,” Obama told reporters yesterday when asked if he had finished his review on the National Security Administration (NSA). [caption id=“attachment_1340613” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Barack Obama. AFP image[/caption] Media reports said Obama might make some major announcements. The White House said, he would present the outcomes of the administration’s review of signals intelligence programmes, and how, in light of new technologies, “we can use them in a way that optimally protects our national security while supporting” foreign policy, respecting privacy and civil liberties, maintaining the public trust, and reducing the risk of unauthorised disclosures. According to The Wall Street Journal, Obama might extend broad privacy protections to non-US citizens and is seriously considering restructuring the National Security Agency programme that collects phone-call data of nearly all Americans. The US president is expected to back a mix of executive actions and measures that would require congressional approval, the daily reported. PTI