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# Obama: The NSA Saves Lives

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0UQkUrdF.m3u8" -->
## Video: Obama: The NSA Saves Lives

[Watch (HLS stream): Obama: The NSA Saves Lives](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0UQkUrdF.m3u8) (0:45)

![Obama: The NSA Saves Lives](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0UQkUrdF/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2013-06-19. President Barack Obama continued to defend the NSA while speaking in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel_


---

Jul 27, 2023 3:36 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Rand Paul Sues Obama Over NSA Surveillance](/video/dYiqzVJj/)

### Rand Paul Sues Obama Over NSA Surveillance

[President Obama Outlines Changes To NSA Surveillance](/video/C7iMgATt/)

### President Obama Outlines Changes To NSA Surveillance

[NSA's Phone Record Seizures](/video/PoSwxcTd/)

### NSA's Phone Record Seizures

---


## Transcript

We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information, not just in the United States, but in some cases threats here in Germany, so lives have been saved. I came in to office committed to protecting the American people. But also committed to our values and our ideals and one of our highest ideals is civil liberties and privacy and I was a critic of the previous administration for those occasions in which I felt they had violated our values and I came in. With a healthy skepticism.

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