VOA慢速英語:Officials Consider Changes to Spying Policy

01 November, 2013

From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.

European officials have traveled to Washington seeking more information about American spying programs.

On Tuesday, the director of the National Security Agency, Army General Keith Alexander, defended the NSA at a hearing in Congress. He denied accusations that the NSA collected the records of millions of French and Spanish telephone calls.

"Those screenshots that show, or at least lead people to believe that we, NSA, or the United States, collected that information is false. And it's false that it was collected on European citizens. It was neither."

The accusations follow information leaks by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contract worker who has been given asylum in Russia.

General Alexander said the agency has received targeted information from phone calls by some Europeans, through NATO allies.

"The sources of the metadata include data legally collected by NSA under its various authorities, as well as data provided to NSA by foreign partners. To be perfectly clear, this is not information that we collected on European citizens."

Metadata would include details about a call, but not the contents of the call. But earlier reports said intelligence officials listened to the calls of as many as 35 world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The European Parliament sent a delegation to Washington to express anger. The delegation met with members of Congress and government officials. Parliament member Jan Philipp Albrecht told VOA that the spying on Chancellor Merkel was simply too much.

"Now people are really concerned. They see that it's not any longer connected to a terrorist threat, because Angela Merkel is not a terrorist, or not part of a terrorist ring. And they think that there was a red line crossed, which is now spying on everybody about everything."

Mr. Albrecht called for American legislation to balance national security needs with the responsibility to protect basic civil rights.

On Tuesday, American lawmakers held a hearing on possible changes to NSA spying programs. Mike Rogers is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He says it is overly simplistic to think that other countries do not operate their own spying programs. But another Republican Party lawmaker, Senator Susan Collins, took a different position. In her words, "Friends do not spy on friends."

Later in the week, the Washington Post reported that the NSA secretly broke into the communication networks of Google and Yahoo. Both Internet companies said they have not approved the reported actions involving their communication links.

General Alexander has said his agency does not enter Google and Yahoo servers. He said the NSA gains access to data by "court order."

Paul Tiao formerly served as an adviser to the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He says all the publicity has made the NSA's job harder.

"NSA is facing significant challenges, both in terms of its public reputation, the level of trust that the public has in NSA, and then also policy issues, legislation that's pending that the new NSA director is going to have to deal with. That could change the nature of NSA's authority with respect to its intelligence collection mission."

Obama administration officials have promised to examine the NSA's programs. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the review will be completed by the end of the year.

And that's In the News from VOA Learning English. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.

這里是美國之音慢速英語新聞報(bào)道。

European officials have traveled to Washington seeking more information about American spying programs.

歐洲官員已經(jīng)動(dòng)身前往華盛頓尋求更多有關(guān)美國監(jiān)控項(xiàng)目的信息。

On Tuesday, the director of the National Security Agency, Army General Keith Alexander, defended the NSA at a hearing in Congress. He denied accusations that the NSA collected the records of millions of French and Spanish telephone calls.

周二，美國國家安全局(簡稱國安局，NSA)局長、陸軍上將基斯·亞歷山大(Keith Alexander)在國會(huì)舉行的聽證會(huì)上為國安局進(jìn)行辯護(hù)。他否認(rèn)了聲稱國安局收集數(shù)百萬法國和西班牙電話記錄的指責(zé)。

"Those screenshots that show, or at least lead people to believe that we, NSA, or the United States, collected that information is false. And it's false that it was collected on European citizens. It was neither."

他說，“這些截圖顯示，或至少讓人們認(rèn)為我們國安局或美國收集這些信息是不對(duì)的，這些信息收集自歐洲公民更是不對(duì)，但事情不是這樣。”

The accusations follow information leaks by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contract worker who has been given asylum in Russia.

這些指控是在俄羅斯庇護(hù)的前美國國安局合同雇員愛德華·斯諾登泄漏信息之后。

General Alexander said the agency has received targeted information from phone calls by some Europeans, through NATO allies.

亞歷山大將軍表示，該局通過北約盟國從電話中獲得了一些歐洲人的針對(duì)性信息。

"The sources of the metadata include data legally collected by NSA under its various authorities, as well as data provided to NSA by foreign partners. To be perfectly clear, this is not information that we collected on European citizens."

他說，“這些元數(shù)據(jù)的來源包括國安局各部門合法收集的數(shù)據(jù)，以及外國合作伙伴提供給國安局的數(shù)據(jù)。很顯然，我們沒有收集歐洲公民的信息。”

Metadata would include details about a call, but not the contents of the call. But earlier reports said intelligence officials listened to the calls of as many as 35 world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

元數(shù)據(jù)包括通話的細(xì)節(jié)，但不包括通話內(nèi)容。但此前有報(bào)道稱，情報(bào)官員監(jiān)聽了多達(dá)35位世界領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的電話，其中就包括德國總理安格拉·默克爾(Angela Merkel)。

The European Parliament sent a delegation to Washington to express anger. The delegation met with members of Congress and government officials. Parliament member Jan Philipp Albrecht told VOA that the spying on Chancellor Merkel was simply too much.

歐洲議會(huì)派遣一個(gè)代表團(tuán)到華盛頓傳達(dá)憤怒。該代表團(tuán)會(huì)見了美國國會(huì)議員和政府官員。歐洲議會(huì)議員簡·菲利普·亞伯雷希(Jan philipp Albrecht)對(duì)美國之音表示，監(jiān)聽默克爾總理簡直太過分了。

"Now people are really concerned. They see that it's not any longer connected to a terrorist threat, because Angela Merkel is not a terrorist, or not part of a terrorist ring. And they think that there was a red line crossed, which is now spying on everybody about everything."

他說，“現(xiàn)在人們真正開始擔(dān)心了，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)監(jiān)控和恐怖威脅無關(guān)，因?yàn)槟藸柌皇强植婪肿?，不是恐怖分子集團(tuán)的一部分。人們認(rèn)為美國越線了，美國現(xiàn)在是監(jiān)控一切。”

Mr. Albrecht called for American legislation to balance national security needs with the responsibility to protect basic civil rights.

亞伯雷希先生要求美國的立法在國家安全需求和保護(hù)公民基本權(quán)利這一責(zé)任上取得平衡。

On Tuesday, American lawmakers held a hearing on possible changes to NSA spying programs. Mike Rogers is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He says it is overly simplistic to think that other countries do not operate their own spying programs. But another Republican Party lawmaker, Senator Susan Collins, took a different position. In her words, "Friends do not spy on friends."

周二，美國國會(huì)就國安局監(jiān)控項(xiàng)目的可能變動(dòng)舉行了聽證會(huì)。邁克·羅杰斯(Mike Rogers)是眾議院情報(bào)委員會(huì)主席。他說，認(rèn)為其它國家沒有監(jiān)控項(xiàng)目過于幼稚。但另一位共和黨立法委員、參議員蘇珊·柯林斯(Susan Collins)立場(chǎng)完全不同。用她的話來說，“朋友不監(jiān)控朋友。”

Later in the week, the Washington Post reported that the NSA secretly broke into the communication networks of Google and Yahoo. Both Internet companies said they have not approved the reported actions involving their communication links.

本周晚些時(shí)候，《華盛頓郵報(bào)》報(bào)道稱，美國國安局秘密闖入谷歌和雅虎的通訊網(wǎng)絡(luò)。兩家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司都表示，他們都未批準(zhǔn)涉及他們通信鏈路的這一被報(bào)道出來的行為。

General Alexander has said his agency does not enter Google and Yahoo servers. He said the NSA gains access to data by "court order."

亞歷山大將軍已經(jīng)表示，國安局沒有進(jìn)入谷歌和雅虎的服務(wù)器。他說，國安局要通過“法院命令”獲得訪問數(shù)據(jù)的許可。

Paul Tiao formerly served as an adviser to the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He says all the publicity has made the NSA's job harder.

刁明倫(Paul Tiao)此前曾擔(dān)任美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局局長的顧問。他說，所有輿論使得國安局的工作更為艱難。

"NSA is facing significant challenges, both in terms of its public reputation, the level of trust that the public has in NSA, and then also policy issues, legislation that's pending that the new NSA director is going to have to deal with. That could change the nature of NSA's authority with respect to its intelligence collection mission."

他說，“國安局面臨著重大挑戰(zhàn)，無論是其口碑--即公眾對(duì)其的信任水平，還是這位新任國安局局長將必須要處理的未決政策問題和立法。這可能會(huì)改變國安局各部門關(guān)于其情報(bào)收集天職方面的性質(zhì)。”

Obama administration officials have promised to examine the NSA's programs. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the review will be completed by the end of the year.

奧巴馬政府官員已經(jīng)承諾調(diào)查國安局的監(jiān)控項(xiàng)目。白宮新聞發(fā)言人杰伊·卡尼(Jay Carney)表示，該調(diào)查將在今年年底前完成。