beetroot recipes: FP Morning Brief: Task Force Urges Limits on NSA Snooping

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Task Force Calls For Limits on NSA Snooping

Top news: An outside panel of intelligence and legal experts on Wednesday recommended that President Barack Obama impose significant constraints on the National Security Agency (NSA), urging major changes in the way the agency collects metadata, conducts cyber operations, and spies on foreign governments. Among the report's 46 recommendations was that phone records remain in the hands of telecommunications companies, not the NSA, and that a court order be required before the agency can access the data.

"We have identified a series of reforms that are designed to safeguard the privacy and dignity of American citizens, and to promote public trust, while also allowing the intelligence community to do what must be done to respond to genuine threats," says the report, which explicitly sought to balance the NSA's objectives with constitutional and economic considerations. The White House already rejected one of the report's recommendations -- that leadership of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command be split -- and has said it expects significant pushback on some of the others from the NSA.

Economy: The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will begin to wind down its stimulus campaign, paring back its $85 billion-a-month bond buying program gradually in 2014. "The recovery clearly remains far from complete," said Fed Chairman Bernanke. But "we're hopeful ... we'll begin to see the whites of the eyes of the end of the recovery, and the beginning of the more normal period of economic growth."

Middle East

Egypt's public prosecutor on Monday announced new charges against deposed President Mohamed Morsy, including conspiring with foreign parties to commit terrorist acts.
U.N. and EU aid chiefs on Wednesday called for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in Syria to "allow aid convoys to deliver assistance to communities which remain out of our reach."
A suicide bomber killed himself and at least 10 Shiite pilgrims on Thursday in southern Baghdad.

Africa

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power arrived in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, on Thursday amid heightened sectarian violence.
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's Rally for Mali (RPM) party and its allies won a strong majority in Sunday's parliamentary run-off.
South Sudan's army said that it had lost control of a northern town on Wednesday, following clashes between supporters of President Salva Kiir and his sacked vice president.

Asia

India demanded an apology from the United States on Thursday after India's deputy consul general in New York was detained and strip searched last week.
An Afghan Army commander brokered a turf-sharing deal with the Taliban in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, effectively giving away hard-won gains by American and British troops.
President Barack Obama is expected to nominate outgoing Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) as the next ambassador to China.

Americas

U.S. Naval officers intentionally downed a $60 million American fighter jet in the Arabian Sea because of "sensitivities" associated with landing military aircraft in a nearby airfield in Oman.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with opposition politicians on Wednesday, urging them to work with him on anti-poverty projects.
Brazil's government on Wednesday announced that the Swedish manufacturer Saab won a $4.5 billion contract to build 36 fighter jets, beating out American rival Boeing.

Europe

Eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday agreed on a plan to establish a $75 billion fund as well as a new agency that will coordinate the union's response to failing banks.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Wednesday that the country's "crisis moment has passed."
In a bid to reassure NATO countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he had not yet decided whether to deploy Iskander missiles in the western exclave of Kaliningrad.

-ByTy McCormick

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