 Today, President Obama formally introduced his plan to reform the American surveillance system, building on the recommendations made by a White House review panel. Despite some welcome proposals, the speech offered little real change, and what the president did propose will have to go through Congress and intelligence agencies first. The strongest proposed reform was an end to the government database that stores virtually all American phone records. Obama promised to, quote, end the program as it currently exists, but we don't know where those records will be going. Moving them back to phone companies or into a private database could present privacy problems. And the NSA complains it might not be able to look up individual records quickly enough. We'll hear more about the ideas in March, when intelligence agencies present their proposals for moving the database. Obama promised to create more oversight for surveillance, outlining a plan for more transparency and new posts that would advocate for civil liberties. He also reassured non-Americans that their privacy was being respected and that they wouldn't be targeted because of race or religion. It's going to be up to intelligence agencies to carry that out. In an extraordinarily difficult job, one in which actions are second-guessed, success is unreported, and failure can be catastrophic, the men and women of the intelligence community, including the NSA, consistently follow protocols designed to protect the privacy of ordinary people. They're not abusing authorities in order to listen to your private phone calls or read your emails. When mistakes are made, which is inevitable in any large and complicated human enterprise, they correct those mistakes. The U.S. has been in hot water for spying on world leaders, and Obama promised that if you're his close friend, he'll just pick up the phone and call you. That didn't stop him from pointing the finger at other countries, though. No one expects China to have an open debate about their surveillance programs, or Russia to take privacy concerns of citizens in other places into account. But let's remember, we are held to a different standard precisely because we have been at the forefront of defending personal privacy and human dignity. At the same time, the NSA isn't going to stop spying anytime soon. The president described surveillance playing a crucial role throughout America's history, from Paul Revere spying on the British to more recent counterterrorism efforts launched after 9-11. In fact, 9-11 came up a lot. Many of the review panel's proposed reforms are dropped entirely. The president didn't mention the NSA's programs for collecting email in bulk or breaking into the private networks of companies like Google and Yahoo. It seems likely those programs will continue with only minimal changes in oversight. The new reforms offer some hope, but little change. The next test will come when the CIA, NSA, FBI, and Congress decide what to do with President Obama's proposals.