President Obama delivers a statement on the confirmation of Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the State Dining Room of the White House July 17, 2013 in Washington, DC. Previously, Cordray was Attorney General of Ohio. (Photo: Pool Getty Images)
Story Highlights Goals: To clarify NSA's authority, improve oversight, tighten restrictions on information use. Obama aims to work with Congress on Patriot Act reforms. More NSA documents will be declassified to improve transparency, Obama says.
President Obama will open his news conference today by outlining plans to improve privacy protections within National Security Agency surveillance programs and better explain to the public how they operate.
According to senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt Obama's remarks, the president plans to announce:
-- New talks with Congress to work on reforms of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which governs NSA collections. The goal would be to clarify the legal authority of the NSA, improve oversight of its actions and tighten restrictions on the use of information obtained by the Agency, all with the aim of improving public confidence in the programs.
-- Appointment of a civil liberties and privacy advocate to argue cases and challenge the government's position before the court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The advocate position is designed to push back on government applications for warrants.
-- Declassification of more NSA and FISA court documents to improve transparency. The Justice Department plans to release a report in the coming days on the legal rationale for NSA collections under Section 215. The NSA itself will release a report as early as Friday detailing its authorities, how it collects information and what its restrictions are. Obama plans to describe this as a down payment on future transparency efforts, with the Justice Department and Director of National Intelligence working on disclosure reforms.
-- Appointment of a new high-level group of outside experts to review the nation's surveillance laws; the advisory group will release an interim report within 60 days and a full report by the end of the year.
The president plans to say he welcomes the debate over NSA surveillance programs, and that he is seeking the right balance between national security and privacy concerns.
He and aides have had a series of meetings in recent weeks with lawmakers, privacy advocates, and other stakeholders in the NSA controversy. Many of those proposals came from those meetings.
