Obama: US will not boycott Olympics in Russia

US President Barack Obama said the National Security Agency would take steps to appoint a full-time civil liberties and privacy officer in the framework of reforms for applying more constraints, oversight and transparency to America’s surveillance programs. Answering a question at his weekly press conference Friday, Obama denied he was influenced by actions of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who received temporary asylum in Russia. He maintained his plans for reforms predated Snowden’s revelations of NSA abuses of oversight. Obama also refused to call the fugitive a patriot. “Keeping America safe is my top priority,” he went on to say, adding “America is not into spying on ordinary people.”  Obama also promised the US will not boycott the Sochi Olympics over soured relations with the Russian president.