U.S.
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President Barack Obama has proposed an end to the government’s bulk collection of telephone metadata, with the storage of phone records instead being transferred to the private phone companies that collect them.
The new set of rules, detailed in a White House statement on Thursday, was developed in response to protests about invasive National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs revealed in a series of leaks by former government contractor Edward Snowden.
“Having carefully considered the available options, I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk,” the president said. “Instead, the data should remain at the telephone companies for the length of time it currently does today.”
The current practice is for metadata to be held at the NSA for five years.
Obama reiterated that the government would also need to gain approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in order to query the private companies for such data.
“I believe this approach will best ensure that we have the information we need to meet our intelligence needs while enhancing public confidence in the manner in which the information is collected and held,” Obama said.
In a conference call with reporters, senior administration officials said they are hopeful that Congress will pass new legislation approving the changes within three months. In the interim, Obama has directed the Department of Justice to seek a 90-day reauthorization of the existing program.
The criteria for a successful FISC query have not been explicitly defined, but senior officials on the Thursday conference call said the government has been practicing the new rules since Obama first announced curbs on NSA surveillance programs in a January speech.
The outgoing director of the NSA, Gen. Keith Alexander, said the new approach addresses civil-liberties and privacy concerns. "Rather than us taking all the data, all we're going to get is that data that directly links to a terrorist's number," Alexander told Fox News on Tuesday.
And while the FISC will play a greater role under Obama’s plan, there are “emergency exceptions” in place whereby a senior government official could expedite the process of approval for transfer of metadata to intelligence agencies.
Al Jazeera and wire services
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