Bowing to the public outcry in the United Sates, and sharp criticism worldwide, over the US National Security Agency’s deep surveillance programme that enables spy services to pry into telephone calls and emails of millions across the world, US President Barack Obama on Friday announced the loosening of secret proceedings of a US court that vets the NSA’s invasion of the privacy of ordinary people worldwide.
He is also forming a task force consisting of intelligence experts from outside government and civil liberties activists to propose steps to make the NSA programme more transparent. His effort has been met with coolness by US civil liberties activists, who have called it a modest start at best. But there are lessons for us in India in all of this.
Mr Obama was doubtless trying to save his government from being submerged in the domestic debate over privacy concerns caused by the NSA’s over-intrusive snooping. But it was refreshing to hear the US leader say at a press conference that it was important that the US public needed to have confidence in the NSA programme, and that it was not enough that the President had confidence in it. Mind you, the programme is not being scrapped. America’s security was being cited as the reason for its continuance. Essentially, then, it is only being tweaked to factor in public concerns and the wounding public debate. The President says the public anger is on account of “perceptions” fed by sensationalised media presentation, and not the “practice” of US government agencies.
That may be self-serving, but it is hard to imagine any government in India — at the Centre or in the states — going the extra mile in this way unless its survival is at stake. There is another, and no less important, lesson for us. We have not on record criticised the NSA’s heavy-handed programme. External affairs minister Salman Khurshid passed up an opportunity while addressing a joint press conference with visiting US secretary of state John Kerry in New Delhi a few weeks ago. Without caveat, he bought into America’s security argument. Now that the US President himself sees reason for more transparency and more clarity, we hope New Delhi will express itself more clearly on the NSA programme that has caused concern internationally, not least because it penetrates India as well, besides many other stations worldwide. We should also ask for evidence that the reach of the controversial spy project in India is indeed critical — not just to US security but also to this country’s security concerns. We need to demand an appropriate quid pro quo if we are persuaded that the NSA programme is of benefit to us.