Obama urged to curb NSA: U. of Chicago's Stone on Intelligence Panel. Read report here

Final Report of the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies

WASHINGTON–A new intelligence advisory panel–with University of Chicago Law School Professor Geoffrey Stone one of the five members–on Wednesday said President Barack Obama should restrict some of the activities of the National Security Agency. Obama created the panel last August in the wake of revelations about the NSA collecting data on U.S. civilians.

Key excerpt from the 308-page report: “The United States is deeply committed to the protection of privacy and civil liberties—fundamental values that can be and at times have been eroded by excessive intelligence collection. After careful consideration, we recommend a number of changes to our intelligence collection activities that will protect these values without undermining what we need to do to keep our nation safe.

The panel made a number of suggestions and “guiding principles” about intelligence gathering and a balancing of interests. “The United States Government must protect, at once, two different forms of security: national security and personal privacy,” the report said.