McCaul: Obama NSA reforms 'window dressing'

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said Sunday he doesn't believe President Barack Obama would have acted to reform National Security Agency programs were it not for the leaks from Edward Snowden.

"I see no evidence of that. I think Snowden came out, leaked this information, and the White House has been backtracking ever since," the Texas Republican said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press.".

Responding to the president's press conference on Friday announcing a suite of NSA reforms, McCaul dismissed the president's announcements as "window dressing."

"I think when the story initially broke, the president went under cover. He just finally came out last Friday trying to come up with ways to salvage the program by window dressing, forming a website, for instance, an outside group," McCaul said.

Instead, McCaul said, the president should be explaining the benefit of the programs.

"The problem fundamentally is he's failed to explain these programs which are lawful, which have saved lives, which have stopped terrorist plots. He has not adequately explained them or defended them," McCaul said. "And now he's in a bit of a mess. ... Because on the heels of the IRS scandal, where people don't trust this government, this administration with their tax records, they sure don't trust this administration with their phone records."