U.S. President Barack Obama Friday called for changes to U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, with new privacy advocates assigned to a surveillance court and a transition away from a controversial telephone records collection program in the U.S.
However, Obama stopped short of major changes advocated by his own surveillance review panel and civil liberties groups. A recent debate over the NSA's surveillance programs, prompted by leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, forced Obama to propose changes.
"Ultimately, what's at stake in this debate goes beyond a few months of headlines or passing tensions in our foreign policy," Obama said in a speech.
The biggest change Obama proposed was a transition away from an NSA bulk phone-records-collection program, with the goal being a new program that doesn't include the NSA holding onto the records, Obama said. Obama wants members of his administration to propose a new program by late March, when the phone records program up for reauthorization.
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