Obama calls for review of surveillance programs

National Security Agency

U.S. President Barack Obama will work with Congress to limit data collection by the National Security Agency under the Patriot Act and will appoint an independent board to review the country's surveillance programs, he said Friday.

The Obama administration will take several steps to restore public confidence in why the NSA and other agencies collect telephone and Internet communications in the name of fighting terrorism, Obama said during a press conference. Leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have led to questions, some of them ill-informed, about the amount of data the U.S. government is collecting, Obama said.

An open debate about the surveillance programs is needed, Obama said. "It's not enough for me, as president, to have confidence in these programs," he said. "The American people need to have confidence in them as well."

As part of a package of proposed reforms, Obama has asked the NSA and the U.S. Department of Justice to release as much information as possible about the surveillance programs and the legal reasoning behind them, he said. The president will also push for changes at the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including adding a privacy advocate when agencies ask the court for new surveillance orders, Obama said.

Obama calls for review of surveillance programs | Network World