Obama aides: Transparency plans could harm security

[jakeXT]

Obama administration officials warned senators Wednesday that some of the legislative proposals to bring more official transparency to previously secret surveillance programs could undermine national security and divert crucial intelligence resources.

“The more detail we provide out there, the more we break this down by authorities and companies, the more easy it becomes for our adversaries to know where to talk and where not to talk,” Office of Director of National Intelligence general counsel Robert Litt said during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s privacy subcommittee. “Breaking it down further, in our view, crosses the line of the appropriate balance between transparency and national security.”

With Congress divided about whether to ban practices like the wholesale collection of data on Americans’ telephone calls, many lawmakers are turning to greater transparency as a salve that can calm public fears about surveillance without disrupting programs that officials say are valuable to preventing and investigating terrorist attacks.

Wednesday’s hearing made clear that the intelligence community is resisting some of those transparency efforts, which could make it more difficult for the proposals to emerge as common-sense, consensus measures that will win the support of large numbers of Democrats and Republicans.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/surveillance-programs-transparency-national-security-99805.html