Obama's NSA reform speech neglects Silicon Valley

[Commentary] President Barack Obama took a step in the right direction with his announcement of modest changes in the National Security Agency's surveillance tactics. But conspicuously absent from his address was any mention of the NSA's hacking of American technology companies.

For most of the country, this is a footnote to the security vs. privacy debate. But to Silicon Valley, it is economic life and death. European and Asian allies already talk about boycotting US technology products because NSA spying may make their products insecure. It's a legitimate concern. The potential cost to the tech industry has been estimated at nearly $200 billion by 2016. Whether or not President Obama's slight was intended, it further damages the relationship between the president and Silicon Valley and risks damage to the US economy. This is no time to blow off the industry that has led the way out of the recession. President Obama declared that he would forbid hacking foreign leaders' cell phones. That could help shore up foreign relations. But what about hacking his friends at home? Cyberattacks on major Silicon Valley firms to exploit weaknesses in their software are what we expect from, say, China -- not from our President.