NSA secret data gathering 'transparent', says Barack Obama

Washington: President Barack Obama has defended top secret US spying programs and called them transparent even though they are authorised in secret.

Obama told PBS's Charlie Rose in an interview broadcast last night says "that's why we set up the FISA court."

He was referring to the secret court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorises two recently disclosed programs: one that gathers US phone records and another is designed to track the use of US-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism.

Obama says the government is "going to have to find ways where the public has an assurance that there are checks and balances in place."