In May 2013, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden, confiscated several sensitive security documents regarding classified government activities that had to do with what described by the Aljazeera America (AA) news outlet, “…a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) order requiring Verizon to turn over the metadata of millions of Americans’ phone calls to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the NSA" (AA ). Snowden then released these documents to the British newspaper The Guardian. The Guardian, then subsequently with Snowden's permission, released the documents to the general public on June 6, 2013. After a considerable amount of protest and scorn from the majority of the American public, President Obama then gave a speech on January 17 2014 to discuss new NSA reforms with the nation's security and to address the public's newly ignited anger. With the release of the NSA documents and protests from many Americans, President Obama and the White House had to approach the situation carefully. In preparing this speech they had to take into account certain factors, which the President will mainly address. That said, when the President gave the speech he may have been addressing security agencies such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), but the audience Obama addressed his speech to was also not just the security agencies and their dependents civilian population of the United States. By civilian population we mean the various segments of the population who are not part of the security personnel. For his presidential address, President Obama and his staff also had to take into account the fact that the masses...... middle of paper... sacrifices must be made to ensure that these freedoms are always available of which let's enjoy. Even if this sacrifice means that the NSA knows your Internet history, your emails or your text messages. Works CitedBoard, Editorial. “Evaluation of President Obama's NSA Speech.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, January 18, 2014. Web. May 8, 2014. Eaton, Joshua. "Edward Snowden Revelations Timeline | Al Jazeera America." Timeline of Edward Snowden revelations | Al Jazeera America. Ed. Ben Piven. Aljazeera America and Web. 8 May 2014.Obama, Barack. “National Security Agency Reforms.” United States Department of Justice. Washington, DC, January 7, 2014. Federal News Service. Transcription. Network. April 2, 2014. Sanger, David E. and Charlie Savage. "Analysis of Obama's Speech to NSA." Caucus analysis of comments on Obama's NSA speech. New York Times, January 14, 2014. Web. May 9 2014.