--- title: Snowden: Obama’s NSA Reforms ‘Incomplete’ description: The NSA leaker said that President Barack Obama's proposed changes to the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus are a "turning point" for the country, but he argued the reforms don't go far enough to protect Americans' privacy canonical: https://time.com/37940/snowden-obama-nsa-reform/ author: David Winograd article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-25T23:11:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:57:49.252Z article:section: Politics og:title: Snowden: Obama’s NSA Reforms ‘Incomplete’ og:description: The NSA leaker said that President Barack Obama's proposed changes to the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus are a "turning point" for the country, but he argued the reforms don't go far enough to protect Americans' privacy og:url: https://time.com/37940/snowden-obama-nsa-reform/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1586324f763e6285/6986873c3617606d4690b1a7/time-a-edward-snowden-nsa-reform-14032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2197 og:image:height: 1236 og:image:alt: A screengrab shows Snowden speaking via video conference during a panel discussion on internet privacy at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Snowden: Obama’s NSA Reforms ‘Incomplete’ twitter:description: The NSA leaker said that President Barack Obama's proposed changes to the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus are a "turning point" for the country, but he argued the reforms don't go far enough to protect Americans' privacy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1586324f763e6285/6986873c3617606d4690b1a7/time-a-edward-snowden-nsa-reform-14032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Snowden: Obama's NSA Reforms 'Incomplete' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [David Winograd](https://time.com/author/david-winograd/) ## David Winograd Mar 25, 2014 11:11 PM UTC  Edward Snowden speaks via video conference during a panel discussion on internet privacy with representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, March 10, 2014. Edward Snowden speaks via video conference during a panel discussion on internet privacy with representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, March 10, 2014. ACLU—Reuters by [David Winograd](https://time.com/author/david-winograd/) ## David Winograd Mar 25, 2014 11:11 PM UTC Edward Snowden [said](https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/edward-snowden-statement-administrations-nsa-reform-plan) Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s proposed reforms to National Security Agency surveillance programs are a “turning point” for the country, but he added the proposal does not go far enough to protect Americans’ privacy. “\[The plan\] marks the beginning of a new effort to reclaim our rights from the NSA and restore the public’s seat at the table of government,” said Snowden in a [statement](https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/edward-snowden-statement-administrations-nsa-reform-plan) transmitted by the ACLU. “President Obama has now confirmed that these mass surveillance programs, kept secret from the public and defended out of reflex rather than reason, are in fact unnecessary and should be ended.” The White House’s reform package would end the NSA’s bulk collection of telephone metadata from telecommunications companies, instead requiring phone companies to keep metadata records themselves. Intelligence agencies would then have to get court approval to access specific records. Obama earlier on Tuesday [urged Congress](http://time.com/37173/obama-calls-for-congress-to-pass-nsa-reform-quickly/) to pass the reform quickly. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/37940/snowden-obama-nsa-reform/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/37940/snowden-obama-nsa-reform/"},"headline":"Snowden: Obama's NSA Reforms 'Incomplete'","datePublished":"2014-03-25T23:11:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:57:49.252Z","description":"The NSA leaker said that President Barack Obama's proposed changes to the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus are a \"turning point\" for the country, but he argued the reforms don't go far enough to protect Americans' privacy","url":"https://time.com/37940/snowden-obama-nsa-reform/","keywords":["NSA","National Security Agency","Barack Obama","Edward Snowden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1586324f763e6285/6986873c3617606d4690b1a7/time-a-edward-snowden-nsa-reform-14032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Winograd","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-winograd/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1586324f763e6285/6986873c3617606d4690b1a7/time-a-edward-snowden-nsa-reform-14032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A screengrab shows Snowden speaking via video conference during a panel discussion on internet privacy at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin","caption":"A screengrab shows Snowden speaking via video conference during a panel discussion on internet privacy at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin","creditText":"ACLU—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nsa/","name":"NSA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/37940/snowden-obama-nsa-reform/","name":"Snowden: Obama's NSA Reforms 'Incomplete'"}}]}] ```