Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies

Obama instructed that "The Review Group will assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust."

[1] The group included former counter-terrorism czar Richard A. Clarke, former Acting Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Morell, University of Chicago Law professor Geoffrey Stone, former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein and Professor and former Chief Counselor for Privacy in the Office of Management and Budget Peter Swire.

[4] Since the report's publications, a number of its 40 recommendations have been adopted into law with the USA FREEDOM Act in particular addressing 7.

[5] The Electronic Frontier Foundation released a statement criticizing the report, saying "we’re disappointed that the recommendations suggest a path to continue untargeted spying.

"[6][7] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a statement welcoming the report, saying "We welcome this report, which advocates for many of the ACLU's positions, including an end to the government's dragnet collection of telephone metadata and its undermining of encryption standards.