Duncan revealed Obama’s dismissive attitude to the dramatic claims by a former defense contractor, Edward Snowden, in a Washington Post report on a White House program to increase Internet use in schools…

Instead of showcasing the president’s June 6 speech about a new plan to boost Internet use in schools, the major media in the United States and abroad were focused on Snowden’s claims that the NSA was copying huge quantities of private, commercial and criminal emails from around the world.

“‘I remember him sort of saying, “It’s a shame that there’s going to be a focus on the noise rather than something that’s real and meaningful,’’’ Duncan said, according to an Aug. 13 report in the Washington Post.

“As Air Force One flew toward North Carolina that day, Obama lamented to his education secretary that one of the administration’s biggest ideas was going to be overtaken by other news,” said the Post.