Following last Friday’s speech on controversial US intelligence programs, President Obama appeared on the German television show “Heute” for an interview with journalist Claus Kleber.
An EU Draft Resolution issued January 8 called for much stronger measures to end mass surveillance and Kleber opened the interview with a comment about the considerable gap between the EU and US positions.
"I have to say that the initial responses to your speech in Germany have been skeptical, guarded, all the way to disappointed, even from sources who are normally very pro-American. They expected more."
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Kleber was polite and deferential as he repeatedly challenged and interrupted Obama’s trademark lengthy soliloquies. Halfway through the interview, with time running out, Kleber was compelled to interject in the nicest possible way:
"I’m a bit rushed because I feel that you are not getting to a point."
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Although Obama spoke about rebuilding trust between the US and its European allies, he doesn’t seem to notice how his own words make matters worse. When asked about intelligence gathered by spying on foreign leaders, he offered consolation with an expiration date at the end of his term.
“And so what I can say is: As long as I’m president of the United States, the chancellor of Germany will not have to worry about this.”
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Kleber asked Obama to explain the principles behind spying on foreign leaders of NATO countries and he used Turkey as an example. Obama’s response:
"I’m not going to comment on country by country."
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Twice during the interview the President spoke about something that may come to be known as
the Obama Doctrine: the US responsibility to protect its friends and allies who have no say in the matter except a word of gratitude.
When the President talked about the bulk collection of telephone data, he seemed out of step with what he said in the speech he gave to Americans.
Obama: One of the issues that I discussed for example today, the 215 program of telephone metadata, that I’ve determined we will end government collection of this data. But this is data that does not include names, does not include content.
Kleber: Understood. But still, the metadata of people in Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, are somewhere stored where, with a couple of judicial steps, American authorities, your agencies have access to. That will remain.
Obama: Well, I have to be careful about what details I can and cannot discuss here. But I think that it is absolutely true that US intelligence has a series of capabilities that allow us to access digital information, not just here in the United States but around the world.
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Here’s the full interview. It was conducted in English and overdubbed with voice translators for ZDF’s German audience. This is the undubbed version ZDF posted on its website. A
transcript of the interview is also available.
The future collection and storage of telephone metadata is not at all clear when the interview and the speech are compared.
“Government collection” will be ended and replaced with “a new approach.” A third party will retain the bulk records, with government accessing information as needed. The details cannot be discussed. This is the same charade American teenagers use when they’re holding contraband and they get caught by their parents.
Here’s the relevant part of the speech.
The
full transcript is posted on the White House website.
On January 21, White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, announced the President’s upcoming promotional tour.
"The President will travel to Brussels on March 26 for a U.S.-EU Summit with the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission."
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The EU Draft Resolution is tentatively scheduled for a vote in the Parliament on March 11. It’s largely up to Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, to champion the proposed “European Digital Habeus Corpus for Protecting Privacy.” Here’s what she tweeted after Obama’s speech along with a couple of amusing replies.
Further information about the President's interview is available on ZDF's website including Claus Kleber's comments, in German.