LONDON — After months of revelations that strained U.S. relations with allies and cast a harsh light on the NSA’s global surveillance reach, President Obama’s speech Friday was aimed at least in part at reassuring the world of American intentions.
But the initial reaction overseas to Obama’s words suggested he still has a significant way to go to heal the rifts.
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In Germany, where revelations that the NSA had been eavesdropping on the calls of Chancellor Angela Merkel stirred deep anger and unusually tough criticism of Washington, Obama’s promises to rein in the excesses were met with a tepid welcome from the German government — and scorn from some analysts.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted that the government would welcome better protection of the rights of non-U.S. citizens but would need more time to review Obama’s speech in detail.
Obama in his speech promised greater privacy protections for foreigners. But the new rules have yet to be written, leaving the possibility that intelligence officials will still have wide discretion in sweeping up information about private citizens overseas if it’s judged to be in the national security interest of the United States.
Obama also said he had ordered new restrictions on spying against allied foreign heads of state. But Obama did not define who would be considered an ally, nor did he promise an end to spying against foreign leaders’ aides or advisers.
The seemingly narrow nature of the new restrictions prompted German blogger Sascha Lobo to comment on Twitter, “Good to know that in the future you can escape surveillance by simply becoming chancellor.”
Although Obama’s speech was reported on Russian television and Web sites late Friday night, officials offered no comment. Russia has not shared European anger over the U.S. surveillance program. Despite his decision to shelter former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, President Vladimir Putin has been generally sympathetic to spying by the United States because of what he sees as the need to fight terrorism.
Russia itself has no qualms about Internet snooping, and is expected to bring all of its expertise to bear at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. Intelligence experts in Moscow say visitors should not expect any electronic privacy.
Reaction was also muted in Britain, which has been shown in leaked documents to be a key partner with the United States in global surveillance efforts.
Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin and Kathy Lally in Moscow contributed to this report.
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