On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued some of his frankest remarks to date on National Security Agency spying. During a video appearance at a London conference, Kerry conceded some actions have “reached too far.”

John Kerry: “The president and I and others in government have actually learned of some things that have been happening, in many ways on an automatic pilot because the technology is there and the ability has been there, over the course of a long period of time.”