VOA慢速英語:Officials Consider Changes to Spying Policy

From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.

這里是美國之音慢速英語新聞報道。

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

歐洲官員已經動身前往華盛頓尋求更多有關美國監(jiān)控項目的信息。

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)在國會舉行的聽證會上為國安局進行辯護。他否認了聲稱國安局收集數百萬法國和西班牙電話記錄的指責。

"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，或至少讓人們認為我們國安局或美國收集這些信息是不對的，這些信息收集自歐洲公民更是不對，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，“這些元數據的來源包括國安局各部門合法收集的數據，以及外國合作伙伴提供給國安局的數據。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.

元數據包括通話的細節(jié)，但不包括通話內容。但此前有報道稱，情報官員監(jiān)聽了多達35位世界領導人的電話，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.

歐洲議會派遣一個代表團到華盛頓傳達憤怒。該代表團會見了美國國會議員和政府官員。歐洲議會議員簡·菲利普·亞伯雷希(Jan philipp Albrecht)對美國之音表示，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，“現在人們真正開始擔心了，他們發(fā)現監(jiān)控和恐怖威脅無關，因為默克爾不是恐怖分子，不是恐怖分子集團的一部分。人們認為美國越線了，美國現在是監(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公民基本權利這一責任上取得平衡。

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，美國國會就國安局監(jiān)控項目的可能變動舉行了聽證會。邁克·羅杰斯(Mike Rogers)是眾議院情報委員會主席。他說，認為其它國家沒有監(jiān)控項目過于幼稚。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.

本周晚些時候，《華盛頓郵報》報道稱，美國國安局秘密闖入谷歌和雅虎的通訊網絡。兩家互聯網公司都表示，他們都未批準涉及他們通信鏈路的這一被報道出來的行為。

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

亞歷山大將軍已經表示，國安局沒有進入谷歌和雅虎的服務器。他說，國安局要通過“法院命令”獲得訪問數據的許可。

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)此前曾擔任美國聯邦調查局局長的顧問。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。這可能會改變國安局各部門關于其情報收集天職方面的性質。”

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承諾調查國安局的監(jiān)控項目。白宮新聞發(fā)言人杰伊·卡尼(Jay Carney)表示，該調查將在今年年底前完成。