奥巴马提监控项目改革方案 拒称斯诺登是爱国者

新华网8月12日电 据美国科技博客Gizmodo报道，美国总统奥巴马9日召开三个月以来的第一次新闻发布会，并在发布会上宣布了一系列针对美国监控项目的改革措施。奥巴马政府已经开始实施部分改革措施，但仍有一部分还悬而未决。但有一点可以肯定的是，奥巴马绝不认为斯诺登应该得到褒奖。

据报道，针对监控项目改革的主要措施包括重新评估目前的监控体系并对其经行改良。奥巴马总统计划从爱国者法案第215条入手。该法案授予美国政府获更广的权限，以便其获取所谓“元数据”，如电话记录等。此外，他还将同美国国会联手，对根据美国外国情报监视法案建立起的秘密法庭进行改革。

另外，此次改革还将带来一系列宏观影响。奥马表示，除了这些具体改革方案外，他正在着手加强司法部门和情报部门的透明度。同时，他还建立了一个外部专家小组，专门对美国的情报工作进行评估。“考虑到美国政府滥用职权的历史对国家的监控方案提出质疑是正确的，尤其是在今天，科技正重塑我们生活的方方面面。”奥巴马说，“作为美国总统，我一个人信任这些项目是远远不够的，这也需要得到每一个美国公民的信任。”

提到美国公民，有一个人自然无法避免，那就是爱德华·斯诺登。在奥巴马做完陈述之后，美国全国广播公司（NBC）记者查克·托德（Chuck Todd）提问想了解奥巴马如何看待留在俄罗斯的泄密者斯诺登。斯诺登目前已在俄罗斯获得政治庇护，并因三项重罪而在美国被通缉。托德指出，奥巴马的改革方案是在斯诺登泄密后才出台，目前有很多人认为真正爱国的是斯诺登，而不是奥巴马。针对这一问题，奥巴马含糊其辞地回答，“不，我不认为斯诺登是爱国者。”

无论奥巴马对斯诺登的喜恶如何，历史终究会对斯诺登究竟是名爱国者还是叛国者作出评价。若将当下的民意作为一个参考标准，似乎前者更有可能。但这并不意味着奥巴马就是“叛国者”。奥巴马表示，这些改革计划早在斯诺登泄密之前就已经开始着手准备，无论泄密事件有没有发生，最终都会实施改革。

译者：张免

百度新闻与新华网国际频道合作稿件，转载请注明出处。

President Obama announced a series of reforms to the country's surveillance practices on Friday at his first full press conference in nearly three months. The actions the administration is taking are many, and there's still a lot that's up in the air. One thing's for sure, though. Obama does not think Edward Snowden deserves any credit.

The major thrust of the president's new plan includes reviewing how the system currently works and reforming it. This is good! Obama plans to start with section 215 of the Patriot Act which gives the government broader authority to access so-called "metadata" like phone records. The president also plans to work with Congress to reform how the secret courts set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act work. The broad strokes of that plan include introducing an "adversarial" (read: privacy-defending) party into the proceedings.

The reforms should also have a macroscopic effect. In addition to these specific reforms, Obama says he's calling for more transparency from folks like the Justice Department and the intelligence community. He's also setting up a group of outside experts to review the country's surveillance efforts. "Given the history of abuse by governments, it's right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives," Obama said. "It's not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs. The American people need to have confidence in them, as well."

Speaking of the American people, there's one citizen who just won't go away: Edward Snowden. After Obama's initial statement, NBC News' chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd jumped up with a question about the president's opinion of the whistleblower who remains in Russia, where he's sought political asylum, and remains wanted for three felonies in this country. Todd made the point that a lot of these reforms come after Snowden leaked documents detailing the NSA overzealous surveillance programs, an act that many people believe to be highly patriotic. Not the president, who said unequivocably, "No, I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot."

Well, whether Obama likes it or not, history will be the judge of whether Edward Snowden is a hero or a villain, and if public opinion is any guide, it sure is looking like the former is more likely. But that doesn't mean Obama's the villain! The president says that these reforms were all planned well before Snowden's leak. And if the leak hadn't happened, we would've ended up in the same place, he said.

For lack of a better clich , that's easy for him to say.