Cass R. Sunstein, Columnist

Seven Crucial Points in Obama’s NSA Speech

January 17, 2014 at 8:42 PM UTC

Cass R. Sunstein is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of “The Cost-Benefit Revolution” and a co-author of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness.”

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President Barack Obama’s speech today marks a historic step in the continuing discussion of national security, privacy and government surveillance.

The speech was delivered against a background set by numerous proposals, including various bills in Congress and the recommendations of the president’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, on which I served (and most of whose recommendations were endorsed in today’s speech). Seven points in the speech deserve particular attention.