Obama meets spy bosses on NSA reforms

U.S. President Barack Obama met top spy chiefs Wednesday as he finalized a decision on how to rein in National Security Agency (NSA) spying sweeps following revelations by Edward Snowden.

Obama met the heads of the NSA, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the director of national intelligence as part of a string of meetings with advocates on both sides of the debate on balancing privacy and national security.

"This was an important chance for the president to hear directly from his team as he begins to make final decisions about how we move forward with key intelligence collection programs," said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

The meeting included CIA chief John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, NSA head General Keith Alexander and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey.

Obama was joined in the talks by Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder.

The president also held a meeting with members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a watchdog body set up by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama promised that a report the board is preparing will be factored into the administration's deliberations on how to move forward, the White House said.

On Thursday, Obama plans to meet top lawmakers with responsibilities overseeing the intelligence community -- including some critics of NSA mass phone data capture programs -- to discuss how to reform the intelligence community.

Aides say that Obama spent considerable time during his recent vacation in Hawaii mulling new constraints on U.S. security agencies in the wake of revelations of mass snooping by fugitive intelligence agency contractor Snowden.

The president will deliver his conclusions in a speech within weeks, and definitely before his annual State of the Union Address, which is scheduled for Jan. 28.

A review panel tasked by Obama with looking at reforms of the intelligence community came up with 46 recommendations in a report issued in December, among them scaling back NSA activities to restore public trust.

The report included calls to end the agency's power to collect and store Americans' phone records. The group also called for curbs on the NSA's ability to ask technology firms to insert back doors to software that allow it to access encrypted communications.

The panel also said the NSA should do more to inform the public and lawmakers about the extent of its surveillance.

Obama has hinted that he may be in favor of continuing the mass collection of phone data -- but that the billions of items should be held by communications firms or a third party and not the NSA.