Greenwald: I’ll watch Obama’s NSA speech, more stories coming ASAP
When President Barack Obama lays out his proposed changes to the way America spies on its citizens and the world in a major speech on Friday, Glenn Greenwald will be watching.
But the independent journalist and civil liberties champion whose work with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden effectively forced Obama’s hand scoffs at the notion that he is looking to time a new bombshell revelation to overshadow the president’s remarks at the Department of Justice.
Obama administration officials privately expressed resignation this week that a new revelation, drawn from Snowden’s trove of NSA documents, could land even as Obama is trying to retake the initiative on the spying issue.
“I think it's funny that US officials think that I calculate my stories that strategically - they're like Internet conspiracy theorists,” Greenwald told Yahoo News by email.
It’s not just U.S. officials who are mindful of Snowden’s next move. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy implied that America’s allies, stung by revelations of American espionage on their citizens and their leaders, have similar concerns.
Rajoy, sitting next to Obama in the Oval Office on Monday, described the U.S. government’s explanations as “satisfactory,” adding the caveat “as long as there are no new developments.”
So how is Greenwald preparing for Obama’s speech?
“I'm preparing for the announcement by watching it and then doing media appearances about it, and am also simultaneously and independently working on new stories to publish ASAP,” he told Yahoo News.
