Washington: US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Monday announced plans to establish a review group to look at the government's intelligence collection methods and surveillance capabilities.
Clapper said the review group will "assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the US employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy... and our need to maintain the public trust," a statement from Clapper's office said, Xinhua reported.
The proposed group will brief its interim findings to Obama within 60 days of its formation and provide a final report with recommendations no later than Dec 15.
In a press conference last week, Obama announced that the government is forming a "high-level group of outside experts to review our entire intelligence and communications technologies".
New technologies give governments unprecedented capabilities to monitor communications, and there should be a discussion of those technologies, Obama said.
He added that the panel will "consider how we can maintain the trust of the people, how we can make sure that there absolutely is no abuse in terms of how these surveillance technologies are used, ask how surveillance impacts our foreign policy -- particularly in an age when more and more information is becoming public".
