DNI: Snowden changes hit security

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned that surveillance-related changes President Barack Obama has ordered in the wake of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks will make it more difficult to detect terrorist plots, resulting in greater risk to the American public.

Testifying at a Senate hearing on worldwide threats to US national security, DNI Clapper and other top leaders in the US intelligence community also blasted Snowden, even as they pleaded with him to end his disclosures about US intelligence practices. FBI Director James Comey suggested that agents investigating potential terrorist plots could usually get the call-related information they need through grand jury subpoenas or similar demands known as national security letters. However, he said the NSA program allows the FBI to get that information quicker.