Obama orders changes to NSA phone data collection, end to spying on foreign friends

President Barack Obama has called for an overhaul to how the US National Security Agency collects and uses citizens' phone records and an end to eavesdropping on foreign heads of state.

In the second speech addressing the controversial NSA policies that have come to light from documents in the hands of Edward Snowden, Obama said Friday that he's "ordering a transition," one that will end "[the] bulk metadata program as it currently exists and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk metadata."

He maintained that the NSA's data collection program is an important tool in identifying and preventing terrorist threats. While he hasn't seen any cases of abuse in the agency's phone collection activities, Obama said he recognizes the potential for abuse.

So what will change?

Obama has asked US Attorney General Eric Holder and intelligence officials to hand in a plan by March 28 that outlines how phone record data will change from the hands of the government to a third-party agency.

Who that third-party record keeper will be has not yet been determined.

Starting now, the government will only investigate phone calls "that are two steps removed from a number associated with a terrorist organization instead of the three," the president said.

Also effective immediately, the NSA will need a court order to obtain phone records.

Holder has been asked to reform the use of national security letters, used as a subpoena to obtain business and other records, so that the gag order usually tacked on doesn't last indefinitely.

The president plans to consult Congress on appropriate boundaries for phone records collection, and has tasked the legislative branch with forming a panel of public advocates to represent privacy interests to the FISC.

Looking off shore

Obama also ordered a cease to the eavesdropping on foreign leaders and governments considered friends or allies. In October 2013, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Obama after information arose the US had tapped her private mobile phone.

Pending a significant national security reason, the US "will not monitor the communications of heads of state and government of our close friends and allies."

Foreign citizens were also granted more privacy protections against NSA surveillance.

The president's speech comes after months of revelations of how the NSA collects and keeps information, raising alarms from those within the US government, global governments, private citizens, the tech community and privacy advocates.

On January 16, new claims arose that the agency indiscriminately gathers up to 200,000,000 text messages daily. The UK's GCHQ reportedly has access to the texts.

While steps forward, Obama's NSA reforms are likely unsatisfying to the agency and government's harshest critics.