KLAYMAN v. OBAMA et al
Filing
102
MOTION for Telephonic Status Conference by LARRY E. KLAYMAN, CHARLES STRANGE, MARY ANN STRANGE (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1 -- Associated Press article about Jimmy Carter, # 2 Exhibit 2 -- Transcript of President Obama's Remarks from March 25, 2014, # 3 Text of Proposed Order)(Klayman, Larry)
Exhibit 2
3/25/2014
Transcript: Obama’s remarks on Russia, NSA at the Hague on March 25 - The Washington Post
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Transcript: Obama’s remarks on Russia, NSA at
the Hague on March 25
Tuesday, March 25, 11:17 AM
President Obama spoke Tuesday in the Hague at a summit on nuclear security at a news conference with
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. He addressed both Russian President Vladi Putin’s annexation of
mir
Crimea and a plan to address concerns about the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’
phone data. Here is a full transcript of his remarks from Federal News Service.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you so much. Prime Minister Rutte, we could not be more grateful
for your leadership in this entire process. And so thank you so much.
With your indulgence, before I speak a little bit about this summit, I’d like to say a few words about a tragedy
that recently took place back in the United States. Over the weekend a massive landslide swept through a tiny
town called Oso in Washington state. And while I won’t get ahead of the ongoing response and rescue
operations, we know that part of this tightly-knit community has been lost.
First responders have acted bravely, despite still dangerous conditions. The American Red Cross has opened
multiple shelters and the people of Washington state have been quick to help and comfort their fellow citizens. I
just spoke to Governor Inslee, who swiftly declared a state of emergency. I signed that emergency declaration to
make sure he’s got all the resources that he needs. My administration is in contact with them on an ongoing basis.
FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has also been on site to offer their assistance and expertise.
So I would just ask all Americans to send their thoughts and prayers to Washington state and the community of
Oso and the families and friends of those who continue to be missing. We hope for the best, but we recognize
this is a tough situation.
Now, as for our work here in The Hague, I want to just repeat the extraordinary work that Mark has done in
helping to organize this. King Willem-Alexander and the people of the Netherlands, your hospitality has been
remarkable, your organization has been flawless.
To all the people who were involved in putting this together, including those who are putting up the traffic that I
caused, I want to say thank you.
I’m told there’s a Dutch word that captures this spirit which doesn’t translate exactly into English, but let me say
that my first visit to the Netherlands has been truly “hoselik” (sp). (Laughter.)
So -- you know, I convened the first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington four years ago because I believed
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Transcript: Obama’s remarks on Russia, NSA at the Hague on March 25 - The Washington Post
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, first of all, we have had a consistent, unbreakable bond between the leaders of
Europe over the last several decades, and it’s across many dimensions -- economic, military, counterterrorism,
cultural. And so any one issue can be an irritant in the relationship between the countries, but it doesn’t define
those relationship (sic). And that continues to be the case, and that has been the case throughout the last couple
of years.
As I said in a speech that I gave earlier this year, the United States is very proud of its record of working with
countries around the world to prevent terrorism or nuclear proliferation or human trafficking or a whole host of
issues that all of us, I think, would be concerned about. Intelligence plays a critical role in that process.
What we’ve seen is that as technology has evolved, the guidelines and structures that constrain how our
intelligence agencies operated have not kept pace with these advances of technology, and although, you know,
having examined over the last -- over the last year or year and a half what’s been done, I’m confident that
everybody in our intelligence agencies operates in the best of intentions and is not snooping into the privacy of
ordinary Dutch, German, French or American citizens.
What is true is, is that there is a danger, because of these new technologies, that at some point it could be
abused, and that’s why I initiated a broad-based review of what we could do. There are a couple of things that
we did that are unprecedented. In my speech I announced that for the first time, under my direction, that we are
going to treat the privacy concerns of non-U.S. persons as seriously as we are the constraints that already exist
by law on U.S. persons. We’re doing that not because we’re bound by international law but because ultimately
it’s the right thing to do.
With respect to some of the aspects of data collection, what I’ve been very clear about is, is that there has to be
a narrow purpose to it, not a broad-based purpose but it’s rather based on a specific concern around terrorism
or counterproliferation or human trafficking or something that I think all of us would say has to be pursued.
And so what I’ve tried to do then is to make sure that my intelligence teams are consulting very closely at each
stage with their counterparts in other nations so that there’s greater transparency in terms of what exactly we’re
doing, what we’re not doing.
Some of the reporting here in Europe, as well as the United States frankly, has been pretty sensationalized. I
think the fears about our privacy in this age of the Internet and big data are justified. I think the actual facts -people would have an assurance that if you are just the ordinary citizen in any of these countries, that your
privacy, in fact, is not being invaded on.
But I recognize that because of these revelations, that there’s a process that’s taking place where we have to win
back the trust, not just of governments but more importantly of ordinary citizens. And that’s not going to happen
overnight because I think that there’s a tendency to be skeptical of government and to be skeptical in particular
of U.S. intelligence services.
And so it’s going to be necessary for us -- the step we took that was announced today I think is an example of
us slowly, systematically putting in more checks, balances, legal processes. The good news is that I’m very
confident that it can be achieved. And I’m also confident that the core values that America has always believed in
-- in terms of privacy, rule of law, individual rights -- that that has guided, you know, the United States for many
years and it will continue to guide us into the future.
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