Referring to the speech delivered by Obama last month announcing
supposed “reforms” to the NSA’s operations, Hayden stated, “The
president is essentially trading some restraint, some oversight, in
order to keep on doing fundamentally what he has been doing.”
Put
in the plainest terms: the government is employing some window-dressing
to quell popular outrage over the NSA’s colossal ongoing violation of
the Constitution and is also trying to ensure that leaks do not threaten
the secret program’s legitimacy in the future. As the WSWS noted
at the time, “the only measure that is likely to be enacted is a
proposal to institute strict new vetting and security policies designed
to prevent anyone from following in the footsteps of Edward Snowden.”
-- Gabriel Black, "Former NSA chief Hayden praises Obama for 'doubling down' on Bush-era spying" (WSWS).