President Barack Obamas: Barack Obama

Barack Obama: WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama called for the end of his government's control over masses of phone data from hundreds of millions of Americans, and promised in a major and long-expected speech that U.S. intelligence would no longer be listening in on the telephone conversations of leaders of nations that are U.S. friends and allies. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. "The leaders of our close friends and allies deserve to know that if I want to learn what they think about an issue, I will pick up the phone and call them, rather than turning to surveillance," Obama said Friday. President Barack Obama speaks in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, in Washington. Faced with Edward Snowdens first secret surveillance leaks, President Barack Obamas message to Americans boiled down to this: trust me. But as the disclosures piled up, it became clear to the president that the publics confidence in the governments oversight of the spying programs was shaky. That jarring realization spurred a months-long White House review that will culminate Friday with new recommendations aimed in part at restoring the publics trust in a surveillance apparatus expected to remain largely in place. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster The existence of the U.S. intelligence program that bugged the phones of leaders like Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, for example, significantly cooled relations with some of Washington's key partners abroad. Merkel made her displeasure broadly known, and Rousseff blasted the United States at the United Nations. She cancelled a planned trip to the United States that was supposed to culminate in a coveted state dinner at the White House on Oct. 23. Related Items Articles Obama says some foreign countries critical of the NSA privately rely on its data, spy on US Obama criticizes Snowden's 'sensational' revelations of classified NSA spying programs Facing pressure at home and abroad, Obama tightens reins on US surveillance programs (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.