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President Obama is preparing to announce a plan to scrap the government's systematic collection of bulk phone records as part of a far-reaching overhaul of the National Security Agency's controversial electronic surveillance activities.

, quoting senior administration officials, reports:



The revamping of NSA procedures was broadly outlined by President Obama in a January speech following months of leaks from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The president said he wanted to get the government out of the business of collecting phone data. 

, Obama said he'd ordered drafting a plan "that would shift that data to some other entity."
The 

, the overhaul doesn't go far enough for some privacy advocates.
A proposed House bill would prevent the NSA from collecting any form of electronic communication in bulk, the 

Update at 3:38 p.m. ET. 'A Crucial First Step':

The American Civil Liberties Union, an ardent critic of NSA surveillance, welcomed this development, saying it is a "crucial first step" toward reining "overreaching surveillance." 

The change would replace the dragnet surveillance of millions of innocent people with targeted methods that are both effective and respect Americans' constitutional rights," Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel with ACLU said in a statement. "It is critical that the administration also end other bulk collection programs."


Update at 12:10 p.m. ET. Obama: Plan Satisfies Public Concerns

Speaking at a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands, following a nuclear security summit there, Obama said he believed the proposal would satisfy public concerns about NSA surveillance activities.


Although he said he thought "some of the dangers hypothesized as regards bulk data" had been overwrought that, he understood those concerns.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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The revamping of NSA procedures was broadly outlined by President Obama in a speech in January after months of leaks from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The president said he wanted to get the government out of the business of collecting phone data.

White House proposes halting collection of phone data

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