Factbox: Obama announces key measures on curbing NSA spy program
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama announced a series of measures on Friday aimed at curbing the monitoring activities of the National Security Agency in the wake of revelations by former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden that prompted an international and nationwide outcry. Following is a list of the key points he announced during a televised speech: * Ban on eavesdropping of allied foreign leaders, which a senior administration official said would apply to dozens of heads of state and government. * Called on Congress to establish an outside panel of privacy advocates for the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court that considers terrorism cases. * Communications providers will be allowed to share more information with the public about government requests for data. * The government should get out of the business of holding bulk telephone metadata, lists of millions of phone calls made by Americans that show which numbers were called and when. Obama will consult with Congress to consider whether a third party should hold the data. * Attorney General Eric Holder and the intelligence community are to report back to Obama before the metadata program comes up for reauthorization on March 28 on how to preserve the necessary capabilities of the program, without the government holding the metadata. * Secrecy over use of National Security Letters, which can force companies to provide information to the government without informing the subject of the investigation, will not be indefinite unless the government demonstrates a real need for further secrecy. * U.S. intelligence agencies will only use bulk collection of data for fighting terrorism, protecting troops and allies, and combating crime. * White House to appoint senior official to implement new privacy safeguards. * State Department to designate senior official to coordinate diplomacy on issues related to technology and signals intelligence. (Compiled by Sandra Maler, Washington Breaking News Team; Editing by James Dalgleish)
