[215] On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.[216] In a 2016 editorial in The New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed "common-sense gun reform" to women's suffrage and other civil rights movements in American history. On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.[216]
In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.[217] Following the 2013 global surveillance disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,[218] but called for increased restrictions on the National Security Agency (NSA) to address violations of privacy.[219][220] Obama continued and expanded surveillance programs set up by George W. Bush, while implementing some reforms.[221] He supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).