At a news conference on Friday, President Obama offered plans to ease concerns over the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs. This is the president's first concession to the mounting public concern in response to disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

He has released new information about spying activities and is calling for changes aimed at increasing public confidence that the programs do not intrude too far into American privacy.  

"It is not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs. The American people need to have confidence in them as well," Obama said.

One of the programs Obama announced is the creation of a high-level task force of outside intelligence and civil liberties specialists to advice the government about balancing security and privacy concerns. 

SEE ALSO: US Files Criminal Charges Against Edward Snowden

Obama also proposed a change in procedures of the secret court that approves electronic spying under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in order to make its deliberations more adversarial. The court, created in 1978, was initially envisioned to carry out a limited role of reviewing whether there was sufficient evidence to wiretap someone as a suspected foreign terrorist or spy.

Furthermore, the administration will also be releasing a previously classified legal analysis explaining why the government believes it is lawful under a provision of the Patriot Act to collect and store data. 

He continued: "In light of that, it makes sense to go ahead, lay out what exactly we are doing, have a discussion with Congress, have a discussion with industry, which is also impacted by this, have a discussion with civil libertarians, and see if we can do this better."

Despite the planned proposals, Obama made it clear that the surveillance program will continue. 

"To the extent possible, I hope these hearings will better delineate the purpose and scope of these programs and increase the public's confidence in their effectiveness," chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, said.

SEE ALSO: Obama pledges greater transparency in surveillance programs

 

Reach Executive Producer Syuzanna Petrosyan here. Follow her on Twitter.