President Obama touches on NSA reform in State of the Union address

President Barack Obama repeated his call to reform intelligence surveillance programs, saying US intelligence agencies need the trust of people inside and outside the country, during his State of the Union speech.

President Obama promised to work with Congress to reform surveillance programs, presumably those at the National Security Agency exposed in the past eight months by leaker Edward Snowden. "The vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence here and aboard, that privacy of ordinary people is not being violated," President Obama said. The President's remarks on surveillance reform were brief, but seemed to track with his call last week to reform NSA programs. President Obama also addressed a handful of other issues related to the tech industry. He called for patent reform, saying Congress needs to allow US businesses to innovate instead of facing "costly and needless" patent lawsuits.