I came in with a healthy ...

I came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. My team evaluated them. We scrubbed them thoroughly. We actually expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the safeguards. But my assessment, and my team\'s assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. In the abstract, you can complain about \'Big Brother\' and how this is a potential program run amok. But when you actually look at the details, then, I think we\'ve struck the right balance.
I came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. My team evaluated them. We scrubbed them thoroughly. We actually expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the safeguards. But my assessment, and my team's assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. In the abstract, you can complain about 'Big Brother' and how this is a potential program run amok. But when you actually look at the details, then, I think we've struck the right balance.
 Barack Obama

Quotes from the same author

Here at home, we will strengthen our defenses but not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish as Americans, because great and proud nations don't hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust.
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 Barack Obama
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
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 Barack Obama
No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise.
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 Barack Obama
If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.
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 Barack Obama
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled.
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 Barack Obama