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Obama: 'At Some Point' in the Next Three and a Half Years, I'll Be Leaving

'On a list of people who might be targeted ... I'd probably be pretty high'

President Obama said he would be high on a list of people who might be targeted for email or phone surveillance after he leaves office "at some point in the next three-and-a-half years" during his remarks in San Jose, Calif.

OBAMA: But my observation is that the people who are involved in America's national security, they take this work very seriously. They cherish our Constitution. The last thing they'd be doing is taking programs like this to listen to somebody's phone calls. And by the way, with respect to my concerns about privacy issues, I will leave this office at some point, some time in the next three and a half years, and after that I will be a private citizen. And I suspect that, you know, on a list of people who might be targeted, you know, so somebody could read their e-mails or listen to their phone calls, I'd probably be pretty high on that list. It's not as if I don't have a personal interest in making sure my privacy's protected. But I know that the people who are involved this these programs, they operate like professionals. and these things are very narrowly circumscribed. They're very focused, and in the abstract you can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential, you know, program run amok, but when you actually look at the details, then I think we've struck the right balance. Thank you very much, guys.