Obama: 'we can do better' on surveillance programs respecting privacy – as it happened
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Version 0 of 1. 4.16pm ET21:16 We’re going to wrap up this live blog and would direct you to our news stories on the Obama-Cameron meeting: Barack Obama and David Cameron fail to see eye to eye on surveillance Barack Obama and David Cameron struck different notes on surveillance powers after the president conceded that there is an important balance to be struck between monitoring terror suspects and protecting civil liberties. As Cameron warned the internet giants that they must do more to ensure they do not become platforms for terrorist communications, the US president said he welcomed the way in which civil liberties groups hold them to account by tapping them on the shoulder. Read the full piece here. Obama and Cameron warn Congress over Iran sanctions vote Barack Obama and David Cameron have warned of possible military confrontation with Iran if Congress succeeds in passing new sanctions legislation rather than giving nuclear non-proliferation talks more time. In a joint press conference characterised by unusually blunt pressure on US lawmakers, the president said he would veto their proposed legislation if it reached his desk. The British prime minister revealed he was making personal calls to senators during his visit to Washington to dissuade them from passing the bill in the first place. Read the full piece here – and thanks for reading. 3.29pm ET20:29 The special relationship decoded: David Cameron’s body language tells us plenty http://t.co/uZpSuLjKyp Then, as the two men advanced towards the cameras, we noticed Obama was doing most of the talking – while he was waving his arms around and holding forth, poor Cameron was consigned to the passive role of listener; another Obama technique for making clear to everyone who’s really in control. Read the full piece here. 3.26pm ET20:26 Cameron is said to be spending the afternoon speaking with more United States congress members about nuclear negotiations with Iran. Obama, meanwhile, is planning a nice evening at home, according to the White House. He is scheduled to host cast and crew members of the movie Selma, about Martin Luther King Jr and the voting rights movement, for a private screening. 2.38pm ET19:38 2.13pm ET19:13 If you heard some disdain for Congress in Obama’s threat to veto any new Iran sanctions they may send him, you aren’t the only one. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who has drafted an Iran sanctions bill, took personal offense and got into an argument with the president after Obama lectured senators on the topic on Thursday, the New York Times reports: Mr. Menendez told the president that he had worked for more than 20 years to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and had always been focused on the long-term implications. Mr. Menendez also warned the president that sanctions could not be imposed quickly if Congress waited to act and the talks failed, according to two people who were present. “It was a forceful exchange between two strong personalities,” the senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said. “It was not an angry exchange. It was clear, forceful, vigorous.” Read the full piece here. 2.03pm ET19:03 From the comments: An argument that Cameron is attempting to puff himself up before elections in May: Lets be honest that Cameron is trying to use a global stage to peddle tory policiesfor the May General Election, and it's revealing a very weak and indecisive man on his way out in May. And a look at potential future leadership on the world stage: Cameron is visiting President Obama to say good bye before May. Ed Miliband will be saying hello President after May. 1.53pm ET18:53 Summary Here’s a summary of what came out of the Obama-Cameron news conference at the White House: Updated at 1.56pm ET 1.42pm ET18:42 Alan Travis is Guardian home affairs editor. He reports there may have been an unbridgeable gap between the closest of allies on web surveillance and weakening encryption: I'm hearing Cameron didn't get White House support for extra web surveillance & weaken encryption. Bilateral factsheet only on cybersecurity Updated at 1.43pm ET 1.40pm ET18:40 “For the most part people who are worried about Big Brother sometimes obscure or deliberately ignore all the legal protections that have been put in place” to rein in surveillance, Obama says. #oversight Obama continues: “The technologies are evolving in ways that potentially make this trickier. If we get into a situation that the technologies do not allow us at all” to track a terror plot... if we are confident this individual or network is about to activate a plot... and despite having a phone number, social media address or email address, and we can’t penetrate that? That’s a problem. And that’s the dialogue we’re having with these companies. 1.40pm ET18:40 Obama said in the US, as in the UK, terror “threat streams are fairly constant. David deals with them every day I deal with them every day.” He says wiretapping is not current technology and the question is how to make surveillance work in the new tech landscape. Obama: “The dialogue we’re engaged in is to make sure that ... we’re confident that if there is a threat out there... [we] can identify that threat and track that threat” without “digging into whatever texts you might be sending on your smart phone.” 1.36pm ET18:36 Second British questioner asks one of the same questions, about whether an attack in the UK is imminent or “almost inevitable”. “On the issue of the threat that we face, the level is threat at severe,” Cameron says. If an attack were imminent the threat level would “move to the next level, which is critical.” In terms of the protection of the Jewish community... this is based on what has happened in France... and it is sensible, precautionary measures to make sure we do what we can to reassure those communities. Cameron said it was moving that protesters held up posters saying “je suis flic, I’m a cop, and je suis juif, I’m a Jew.” 1.31pm ET18:31 Obama said the US and UK could “do better” to ensure that surveillance programs “operate within the law and address privacy concerns: Obama: I’d say the US and UK have operated in a scrupulous way to operate within the law and address privacy concerns. But we can do better. 1.29pm ET18:29 Obama: government to open 'dialogue' with tech companies Obama says the US government will talk with tech companies about finding a way for the government to use the companies’ data to stop terrorism. “We still have to find ways, if an Al-Qaeda affiliate is operating in the United States” or elsewhere, Obama says, to identify it. The companies will be on board, he says, calling them “patriots.” We just have to work through in many cases what are technical issues. How to square the circle on these issues is difficult.. we’re also going to be in dialogue with the companies to make that work. Obama said “the biggest damage that was done” from the Snowden leaks was “a complete undermining of trust, some would say that was justified,” in what the US government is doing surveillance-wise. 1.24pm ET18:24 Obama: 'biggest US advantage' is Muslim assimilation On the terror threat in Europe from foreign fighters and radicalized immigrants, “Europe has consistently taken this seriously,” Obama says. There’s no doubt that the most recent events has amplified those concerns... There’s always more that we can do. We can always do it better. We learn from mistakes. Each incident that occurs teaches professionals how to do it next time. “The United States has one big advantage in this whole process. It’s not that our intelligence services are so much better,” although they’re very good, Obama says. Our biggest advantage is that our Muslim populations, they feel themselves to be Americans. There’s this incredible processs of immigration and assimilation that’s part of our tradition, and that’s probably our greatest strength.” The Boston attacks notwithstanding, he says. There are parts of Europe “where that’s not the case,” Obama says. It’s important that Europe not respond with a hammer, he says. He says he told Cameron all this before. 1.19pm ET18:19 Obama contrasts “Congress” with “people who actually know” about Iran’s nuclear program. 1.18pm ET18:18 1.16pm ET18:16 Obama calls on CBS News. Are the leaders trying to send a message to Iran that “war footing is the next most likely” result if negotiations fail? CBS’ Major Garrett also asks about the terror in Paris and about cybersecurity. Obama replies first on Iran: “I am not, I repeat not, suggesting that we are on immediate war footing with Iran should negotiations fail.” 1.12pm ET18:12 Obama: 'We haven’t been standing on the sidelines' on Syria Obama says the US is working to identify who is trying to travel to Syria to get training and possibly return and attack the United States. Obama pushes back on the notion that the US has been passive in the conflict. “We haven’t been standing on the sidelines. It’s true that we did not invade Syria,” he says. The assertion, he says, is that the US invading Syria would have resulted in a lesser terror threat. “I’ll leave it to you to play out that scenario and whether that sounds accurate,” Obama says. 1.10pm ET18:10 Cameron: terror attack in UK 'highly likely' Cameron calls on Nic Robertson of BBC, who asks whether people are right to conclude that there may be an attack imminent on the streets of Britain. Robertson asks about the Syrian war, too, and about the economy. “We do face a very serious Islamist extremist terrorist threat in Europe and across the world,” Cameron says. “That involves an incredibly long-term, patient, disciplined approach.” On imminence, Cameron says: “We have a system in the UK where threat levels are set... they’re not set by politicians... they’ve judged that the threat is severe, that means an attack is highly likely.” But if an attack were thought to be “imminent”, Cameron says, the threat would move up a level to the top level. 1.06pm ET18:06 Cameron admits lobbying US senate Cameron admits that he has been calling US senators to discourage them from moving to sanction Iran anew. But “not as the British prime minister” telling Americans what to do, he says. ... 1.04pm ET18:04 Obama: 'I will veto' any new sanctions on Iran Obama continues: “It’s my team that’s at the table. We are steeped in this stuff day in and day out. We don’t make these decisions blindly... I’m asking Congress to hold off because... those who are most intimately involved in this assess that it will jeopardize a possibility” for success. “Congress needs to show patience... I will veto a bill that comes to my desk.” 1.03pm ET18:03 If there are new sanctions, “the likelihood of the entire negotiations failing is very high,” Obama says. And if that happens, there’s nothing stopping Iran from going back to trying to build a heavy-water reactor and underground facilities “that are very hard to reach militarily.” He says the world needs more time to let negotiations work. “There is no good argument for us to try to undermine the negotiations until they’ve played themselves out.” If Iran can’t get to yes, he says, “I will be the first one to come to Congress and say we need to tighten the screws,” and “all options will be on the table.” Obama says if negotiations end prematurely, “The risks and likelihood that this at some point ends up being a military confrontation is heightened.” 12.58pm ET17:58 Obama turns to the sanctions program on Iran. He said the program rolled back nuclear stockpiles and provided unprecedented insight on the program. Israel agrees on this, he says. “We have not lost ground. Iran has not accelerated its program” during negotiations, he says. In the coming months, the negotiations will be “to determine whether or not Iran will get to yes.” The world has retained remarkable unity on this, Obama says, including Russia and China. “I’ve always said that the chances that we can actually get a diplomatic deal are probably less than 50-50, Obama says. “...But, if in fact, we still have an opportunity to get a diplomatic deal that provides us verifiable assurances that they are not developing a nuclear outcome, that is the best possible outcome.” 12.55pm ET17:55 Jon Karl at ABC gets in a third question for Obama: What do you think about the news that Mitt Romney may run for president again? Obama begins: “On your last question, I have no comment.” Laughs in the room. Updated at 12.56pm ET 12.54pm ET17:54 ABC News asks Obama why he opposes sanctions on Iran, which Cameron also said he opposes. WOuld Obama veto a sanctions bill supported by top Democrats? And for Cameron: is it correct you’re calling US senators on this issue? Are you lobbying? 12.52pm ET17:52 Here they are, via Dan Roberts. “Our alliance stands strong, rooted in our history,” Cameron says. 12.51pm ET17:51 Cameron said the US and UK face a common “poisonous” enemy that wants to “pervert one of the world’s great religions, Islam” and create conflict and terror. 12.50pm ET17:50 On Ukraine, Cameron says it’s important that no one in Europe “forgets our history.” “We cannot walk on by,” he says. 12.47pm ET17:47 Cameron said the key challenge both leaders face boils down to the word “security.” He’s not just talking about terror threats. He mentions earlier economic slumps in both countries and ongoing economic risks. Cameron says the two agreed on the need for a “comprehensive EU-US trade deal” in 2015. 12.46pm ET17:46 Obama turns it over to “my good friend David Cameron.” Cameron thanks him and confirms “you are my great friend and a friend to Britain.” Cameron makes a joke about how “most of the time we speak the same language.” 12.44pm ET17:44 Obama said he and Cameron will do everything in their power to help France seek the “justice that is needed” after the terror attacks last week. “We reviewed our coalition’s progress against Isil,” Obama says. He claims progress. The pair agreed to step up training of Iraqi forces. The Paris attacks underscored the threat of homegrown terrorism inspired by foreign fighters, Obama said, and the threat of returning fighters. “We both recognize that intelligence and military force alone is not going to solve this problem,” Obama says. He says the two countries will continue to work on measures to prevent radicalization of young people. 12.42pm ET17:42 Obama says the pair talked jobs and the economy, cyber-security, a deal to reduce greenhouse gasses and international security. “WE agreed on the need to maintain strong sanctions against Russia until it ends” its aggression in Ukraine, he says. “We agreed the international community needs to remain united in stopping Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon.” “We urge the world to “continue stepping up with the resources to fight ebola,” Obama says. 12.40pm ET17:40 Here they are. There is a lag in the White House feed, apologies about that. It’s about a ten-second lag. Obama said commentators went into a “tizzy” over Cameron’s mention of Obama’s use of the word Bro. Even speculation about what the word Bro means. “Let me put this speculation to rest. Put simply David is a friend. He’s one of my most trusted partners in the world.” Obama thanks Cameron for his friendship. No room for humor in diplomacy, is there? 12.36pm ET17:36 Here come the aides with documents for the lecterns. Water glasses in place. We have a two-minute warning. 12.32pm ET17:32 Cybersecurity cooperation blueprint released The White House has just released a “fact sheet” outlining three areas of focus for US-UK cooperation on cybersecurity. Here are the areas: Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity ...Both governments have agreed to bolster our efforts to increase threat information sharing and conduct joint cybersecurity and network defense exercises to enhance our combined ability to respond to malicious cyber activity. Our initial joint exercise will focus on the financial sector, with a program running over the coming year. ... Strengthening Cooperation on Cyber Defense ... To deepen this collaboration in other areas, the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Security Service (MI5) are working with their U.S. partners – the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation – to further strengthen U.S.-UK collaboration on cybersecurity by establishing a joint cyber cell, with an operating presence in each country. The cell, which will allow staff from each agency to be co-located, will focus on specific cyber defense topics and enable cyber threat information and data to be shared at pace and at greater scale. Supporting Academic Research on Cybersecurity Issues The governments of both the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to provide funding to support a new Fulbright Cyber Security Award. This program will provide an opportunity for some of the brightest scholars in both countries to conduct cybersecurity research for up to six months. The first cohort is expected to start in the 2016-17 academic year, and the U.S.-UK Fulbright Commission will seek applications for this cohort later this year. 12.28pm ET17:28 Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts sends a pic from inside the East Room. Hope they have sunglasses. 12.24pm ET17:24 The room has just heard the “silence your cellphones” message. Should be starting soon. Updated at 12.29pm ET 12.20pm ET17:20 Awkward. Obama-Cameron event is down the hall from plaque commemorating rebuilding of WH post-British burning in War of 1812 pic.twitter.com/ISQvcOkEef 12.18pm ET17:18 We’ve embedded atop the blog the White House video feed that will stream the news conference. 12.08pm ET17:08 As Cameron prepares to make his case for reinforced government access to communications (it appears he’ll bring it up), the Wall Street Journal reports the existence of a secret US government database of international calls: Breaking: Justice Department kept secret database of U.S. phone calls to and from foreign countries. http://t.co/2KafCrRyNq WASHINGTON—The Justice Department secretly kept a database of U.S. calls to and from foreign countries for more than a decade, according to a new court filing and officials familiar with the program. The revelation of another secret government database storing records of Americans’ calls came in a filing Thursday in the case of a man accused of conspiring to unlawfully export electronic goods to Iran. [...] A Justice Department official said the database was deleted and hasn’t been searched since 2013, and said the DEA is no longer collecting bulk telephone records from U.S. phone companies. Read the full piece here. Updated at 12.09pm ET 12.00pm ET17:00 True story. David Cameron is honestly just the worst #desperate pic.twitter.com/w6Ke4Pw1Hh Cameron told the Daily Mail this a couple weeks ago. So what’s he call Obama? Update: @TeeMcSee Sir? Updated at 12.53pm ET 11.56am ET16:56 News roundup: counter-terror operations Here’s a roundup of Guardian reporting today on counter-terror activity in Europe: UK police to step up patrols of Jewish areas amid ‘heightened concern’ Police patrols of Jewish communities in the UK are to be stepped up amid “heightened concern” about the risk of an attack following the Paris atrocity, Britain’s top counter-terror officer has said. Two men arrested in Berlin on suspicion of recruiting for Isis in Syria Berlin police have arrested two men suspected of recruiting fighters and gathering equipment and finance for the Islamic State in Syria, as security forces across the country intensify their investigations into suspected terror groups. Islamists killed in Belgian terror raids ‘planned to massacre police in street’ A major Islamist plot to kill police officers in the street has been foiled at the eleventh hour, prosecutors have said, after counter-terror raids led to the arrest of 15 suspected jihadis in Belgium and France. Two dead in Belgium as police foil ‘grand scale’ terrorist plot Counter-terrorist units foiled what was described as a jihadist plot to stage a major attack in eastern Belgium on Thursday evening, killing two gunmen and wounding another in a shootout in the town of Verviers near the German border. 11.51am ET16:51 Here’s the East Room, where the magic will happen. Flags at the ready. Half hour to go now till scheduled start. That White House YouTube link again is here. Glad to accompany PM David Cameron @Number10gov for his bilateral & press conference w/@BarackObama @WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/uCyQhnkO84 11.48am ET16:48 Lavabit founder condemns David Cameron's 'insane' plan to ban encryption http://t.co/q1Edu2WTV3 British prime minister David Cameron’s calls to stop tech firms from protecting their users’ information with encryption technology are “insane”, according to the man who once ran NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s secure email account. The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe (@dominicru) reports: Ladar Levison, founder of the encrypted email service Lavabit, made his comments as Cameron lobbied Barack Obama to press US technology companies to give law enforcement greater access to encrypted communications, following the deadly attack on the Paris office of magazine Charlie Hebdo. Before a joint press conference with Obama at the White House on Friday, Cameron said internet firms “have a social responsibility to fight the battle against terrorism.” Read the full piece here. 11.40am ET16:40 A White House pool report has some color –or is it colour? – from the photo opportunity with the leaders (see image now atop blog). The two talked and smiled, according to the report. Obama told the press, “you will have a lot of opportunities to ask questions later.” Cameron “was also smiling and did not say anything.” In the background on our way out we saw near the window at least 10 to 12 people. Amongst them were National Security Adviser Susan Rice, US deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the Vice President Joe Biden. 11.35am ET16:35 Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts passes by Cameron’s Washington crib: Dan notes Blair House is once again receiving guests after a long closure for renovations. Updated at 11.36am ET 11.32am ET16:32 One interesting point to watch in the upcoming news conference – it’s scheduled to begin at 12.20 and you will be able to watch it on the White House YouTube channel – is whether there is any daylight between the leaders on the question of asking American companies to provide a “backdoor” to prying government eyes or otherwise increase cooperation in government surveillance. Cameron has been very direct on the point, saying that tech companies “need” to cooperate and have a “social responsibility” to do so. He did tack on a statement about the importance of privacy in remarks he made on Monday about the need to limit privacy: “They need to work with us,” Cameron said of the tech companies. “They need also to demonstrate, which they do, that they have a social responsibility to fight the battle against terrorism. We shouldn’t allow safe spaces for traits to communicate. That’s a huge challenge but that’s certainly the right principle. “Of course people want privacy in their communications. Nobody wants to listen to the phone calls or read the emails of people as they go about their daily lives.” How will the American audience react to a British leader telling an American president what to tell American companies? Or maybe the receptivity to the message will surpass any chauvinistic qualms about the messenger? Updated at 11.33am ET 11.18am ET16:18 The Obama-Cameron talks have been prompted in part by recent cyber-attacks, report the Guardian’s Nicholas Watt and Patrick Wintour: The talks come as the two leaders announced a rolling programme of transatlantic cyber “war games” to be conducted by British and US intelligence agencies to test their resilience in the face of mounting global cyber-attacks. Cameron told the BBC’s Today programme: “This cyber-security and cyber-attacks is one of the biggest modern threats that we face. Eight out of 10 large companies in Britain have had some sort of cyber-attack against them. Britain and America working together – we have got hugely [capable] security defences and the expertise – and that is why we should combine and set up cyber cells on both sides of the Atlantic to share information, not only to work out how we best protect ourselves but create a system where hostile states and hostile organisations know they should not try to attack us.” 11.05am ET16:05 Hello and welcome to our live coverage of a joint news conference with British prime minister David Cameron and US president Barack Obama. The appearance concludes meetings over two days between the pair. The two leaders are currently meeting in the Oval Office, joined by vice-president Joe Biden. Cybersecurity and counter-terrorism are top of the agenda. In an interview with ITV News, Cameron said he would ask Obama to step up pressure on the likes of Facebook and Twitter to do more to cooperate with intelligence agencies as they seek to track terror suspects. The pair are expected to take questions about topics including the ongoing counter-terror operations in Europe, including increased police patrols in the UK of Jewish areas and raids on Thursday in Belgium and Germany. During a Nato summit last summer, the leaders published a joint op-ed calling on the alliance to confront Isis fighters in Iraq and Syria. The sense of urgency attached to that recommendation has only grown since. We’ll take a look at the latest news out of Europe as we wait for the leaders to appear. |