Last year was the year of the wiretap, but in a speech on Jan. 17, President Barack Obama sought to set a different tone for 2014.

He countered criticisms of the policy of telecommunications monitoring by United States intelligence agencies and promised reforms of some of their more radical practices.

Changes have been made which decrease the degrees of separation allowable from a terror suspect in order to be eligible for the secret phone tapping and also made reforms to the type of data stored and the way in which data is stored.

Obama said he would provide continued review of the programs administered by the United States and has promised to further cooperation with our allies to promote security both domestically and abroad.

Students of Iona College feel strongly about the monitoring of their presence in the digital world.

Senior history major Andrew Jordan was initially shocked and uncertain about the NSA’s activities, but changed his mind in light of Obama’s recent speech.

“I was pleased to see that the President addressed the issue of the NSA that has concerned many Americans over the last several months,” he said.

“Overall, I was pleased by some of his points like the announcement that his administration would no longer conduct phone surveillance on the leaders of foreign states.”

Sophomore political science major Kaitlin Winterroll offered her support for the NSA’s actions.

“It is completely logical for NSA to be phone tapping and such given our history with terrorists,” said Winterroll.

“Obama is right by making it clear that the point of the intelligence agencies is for it to be secret.”

While some students are ready to accept the methods the government is employing to keep American citizens safe, others are still grappling with the issue.

“Personally, I still find myself torn on the issue,” freshman Kayla Kosack, a member of Iona’s pre-law program, said.

“Like President Obama stated, ‘America must be vigilant in the face of threats.’”

“I see both sides of the argument and agree that some equilibrium must be found and oversight over the NSA,” Kosack said.

While recent months have seen the release of more details regarding the NSA’s surveillance activities, many of the specifics are still uncertain.

What is certain, however, is that the debate over issues of national security is not soon to disappear from the political agenda.