Ken Berwitz
“… Let me now turn tothe separate set of concerns that have been raised overseas, and focus onAmerica\’s approach to intelligence collection abroad. As I\’ve indicated,the United States has unique responsibilities when it comes to intelligencecollection. Our capabilities help protect not only our nation, but ourfriends and our allies, as well. But our efforts will only be effectiveif ordinary citizens in other countries have confidence that the United Statesrespects their privacy, too. And the leaders of our close friendsand allies deserve to know that if I want to know what they think about anissue, I\’ll pick up the phone and call them, rather than turning tosurveillance. In other words, just as we balance security andprivacy at home, our global leadership demands that we balance our securityrequirements against our need to maintain the trust and cooperation amongpeople and leaders around the world.
“… The bottomline is that people around the world, regardless of their nationality, shouldknow that the United States is not spying on ordinary people who don\’t threatenour national security, and that we take their privacy concerns into account inour policies and procedures. This applies to foreign leaders aswell. Given the understandable attention that this issue has received, Ihave made clear to the intelligence community that unless there is a compellingnational security purpose, we will not monitor the communications of heads ofstate and government of our close friends and allies. And I\’veinstructed my national security team, as well as the intelligence community, towork with foreign counterparts to deepen our coordination and cooperation inways that rebuild trust going forward.”
