My must read of the day is "Troubling disclosures are likely to change how the NSA does its spying," in the Los Angeles Times:
New limits on America's global surveillance operations are almost certain thanks to leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showing that the spy agency eavesdropped on dozens of foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other close allies.
"This is going to change the way the NSA does business for decades to come," said Stewart Baker, a former NSA general counsel who writes frequently about intelligence matters. […]
Obama administration officials and leading lawmakers, who staunchly defended the NSA after Snowden began leaking classified documents that were disclosed June, have begun to distance themselves from the agency.
Doesn’t anyone find it odd that the administration is going to change the way the NSA operates because Europeans are mad?
I support the majority of the NSA programs revealed by Snowden, but if the administration was going to consider drastic changes of any kind, it should’ve been because of American anger and concern.
According to this article, the president has already "ordered a halt to some NSA operations" in light of the spying on Angela Merkel.
I do not want the administration to change or stop programs like PRISM. I will concede that the procedures for approving warrants could be better monitored. I don’t necessarily believe surveillance requests or subpoenas are being indiscriminately approved, but I understand the concern that the judges approving said requests are essentially a part of the NSA. Adding a new or different procedure to deal with that is completely reasonable and any additional steps to make sure this type of program is not misused are fine by me. But to significantly modify, or end, this program would be a huge mistake.