Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP File Photo

Obama Inches Closer to Limiting NSA Power

The President has spent the week consulting lawmakers and privacy experts.

President Obama has spent this week consulting lawmakers, privacy experts and intelligence officials in order to consider a number of reforms to national intelligence programs.

According to the Associated Press, one of the largest reforms the President is expected to announces concerns how the NSA monitors the communications of foreign leaders. This includes more oversight of the National Intelligence Priorities Framework which is used to determines where to focus investigations and could limit ally surveillance.

Obama is also considering one of the recommendations to dismantle the NSA's bulk collection of phone metadata. In its place could be a solution where phone companies or other third parties handle the data, only accessible by the NSA through a court order. Members of the Congress-appointed Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama on Wednesday to discuss their preliminary findings on the phone program, though their full report is not expected until late January.

Read more at The Wire