John KerryBOGOTA, Colombia – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry defended the National Security Agency surveillance programs on Monday and downplayed their impact on U.S. efforts to deepen relations with two key allies in Latin America.
Brazil and Colombia, two of the United States’ closest friends in the region, have been rankled by reports that citizens of Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and other countries were among the targets of a massive NSA operation to secretly gather information about phone calls and Internet communications worldwide. The disclosures were made by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
Kerry sought to play down the rift during a press conference in Bogota before heading to Brazil on his first trip to South America as secretary of state.
“Frankly, we work on a huge number of issues and this was in fact a very small part of the overall conversation and one in which I’m confident I was able to explain precisely that this has received the support of all three branches of our government,” Kerry said. “It has been completely conducted under our Constitution and the law. … The president has taken great steps in the last few days … to reassure people of the U.S. intentions here.”
He referenced the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “It’s obvious to everybody that this is a dangerous world we’re living in … we are necessarily engaged in a very complex effort to prevent terrorists from taking innocent lives.”