Obama to call for changes to Patriot Act, surveillance of Americans

WASHINGTON -- In a policy shift intended to quell growing public unease, President Obama will call on Congress to change the Patriot Act to increase oversight, and will ask Congress to consider allowing adversaries to challenge government lawyers for the first time in the secret court that authorizes surveillance.

Responding in part to disclosures of classified programs by former intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden, Obama is considering proposals to restrict the National Security Agency from secretly collecting Americans’ telephone calling records.

He also is considering proposals to create a permanent staff of lawyers to advocate for the public, or to allow outside groups to file “amicus briefs,” in cases before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to senior administration officials. The goal, they said, is to ensure the 11 judges on the court hear a voice raising civil liberties concerns.

Obama is expected to detail the proposals at a White House press conference a day before he heads to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off Cape Cod, for an eight-day family holiday.

One idea under consideration at the White House, the aides said, would require telecommunication companies to archive domestic telephone calling records, rather than the government, so the NSA could obtain a warrant and search it for numbers linked to suspected terrorists overseas.

In an initial step toward transparency, the president will announce the release of the Department of Justice rulings that has allowed the NSA to secretly collect telephone metadata – phone numbers, duration and dates, but not names or content - under a Patriot Act provision that says records must be “relevant to an investigation.”

Following disclosures that showed the NSA has secretly collected domestic telephone records, as well as the contents of emails, texts, chats and videos made by Americans while targeting the Internet activity of foreigners, the president has largely defended the system as designed to fight terrorism without invading the privacy of Americans.

The latest proposals suggest a White House recognition that the public is not convinced that national security is sufficiently enhanced to trade off personal privacy.

White House officials said they will work with Congress to pursue changes to Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Ideas on the table include reducing the length of time the records are held, currently five years.

The government also could reduce the scope of its investigations when it runs a terrorist-linked number through the database and gets a hit. Currently, NSA analyzes the numbers called by the alleged terrorist, and then everyone those people called, and then on to a third so-called “hop” of calling relationships that could include millions of people.

Obama is considering limiting that process, a senior intelligence official said.

The White House also intends to form a high-level group of outside experts to take a look at how to keep intelligence practices in line with security and values. Participants will be named in coming days.