Ending the NSA's massive phone database is just one recommendation in a report from the White House's surveillance review panel that is set to be released today, reports The Washington Post.
by Carrie Mihalcik
December 18, 2013 11:52 AM PST
(Credit: NSA) A report from the White House surveillance review board, which is set to be released later today, recommends the US National Security Agency end its surveillance program that collects virtually all Americans' phone records, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Ending the NSA's massive phone database is just one of "a set of sweeping technical reforms" aimed at restoring public confidence in US surveillance programs, reported the Post, citing "individuals briefed" on the report from the five-member Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies.
Instead of the NSA holding onto phone records, phone companies or a third party would keep track of that data, reported the Post. Previous reports have suggested this would effectively end the NSA's controversial bulk collection of data because the agency would have to meet a higher stand of proof to get information from phone companies. NSA officials have said this would hamper their speed and effectiveness because it would require searching multiple, separate databases.
The panel also recommended barring the NSA from several practices, including asking companies for "backdoor" access to encrypted communication and "undermining global encryption standards," according to the Post's sources.
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The review panel also suggested putting a different agency in charge of the government's classified computer systems, reported the Post, in order to "separate a clearly defensive mission from the offensive side of [the] NSA."
The panel, which was appointed by President Obama in the wake of disclosures made this summer by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, submitted more than 40 recommendations to the president on Friday. The White House had originally intended to release the report in January along with the president's decisions on how to respond. However, Press Secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday said they would be releasing the report early.
"While we had intended to release the review group's full report in January, given inaccurate and incomplete reports in the press about the report's content, we felt that it was important to let people see the full report to draw their own conclusions," said Carney, according to The Hill.
The review board's report is set to be released as pressure to reform NSA surveillance programs appear to be coming to a head. Just Monday, a federal judge issued a preliminary ruling that the NSA's bulk collection of US citizens' phone records could violate the Fourth Amendment. Tech executives -- including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and others -- also visited Obama this week and urged him to "move aggressively" on NSA reforms.
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