--- title: Obama to Set Five Year Restriction on Intelligence Data description: Intelligence agencies will have to delete non-essential data on private citizens within five years canonical: https://time.com/3693483/obama-restricts-intelligence-data/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-03T13:06:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:05:44.412Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama to Set Five Year Restriction on Intelligence Data og:description: Intelligence agencies will have to delete non-essential data on private citizens within five years og:url: https://time.com/3693483/obama-restricts-intelligence-data/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee67c2976d1324e6/69877d5306f2c1b0ef333c8a/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama to Set Five Year Restriction on Intelligence Data twitter:description: Intelligence agencies will have to delete non-essential data on private citizens within five years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee67c2976d1324e6/69877d5306f2c1b0ef333c8a/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama to Limit Data Collection by Intelligence Agencies > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Feb 3, 2015 1:06 PM UTC  The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Feb 3, 2015 1:06 PM UTC Intelligence agencies will have to [delete](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/world/president-tweaks-the-rules-on-data-collection.html?%5Fr=0) extraneous data on private citizens and limit storage of data on foreigners to five years, the Obama administration is expected to announce Tuesday, as part of a new batch of modest restrictions on intelligence gathering efforts. The reforms will also initiate regular White House reviews over surveillance programs targeting foreign leaders, the New York _Times_ [reports.](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/politics/obama-nsa.html) President Barack Obama abruptly [cancelled](http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/23/merkel-calls-obama-about-report-of-u-s-monitoring-her-cell-phone/) one such program targeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2013, after leaked documents revealed that the National Security Agency had tapped her cell phone records. However, the administration stopped short of addressing the scope of the NSA’s collection of “metadata” on cell phone records, which sparked a controversy after it was revealed that the program encompassed millions of Americans’ cell phone records. [Read more at the New York _Times._](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/world/president-tweaks-the-rules-on-data-collection.html?%5Fr=0) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3693483/obama-restricts-intelligence-data/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3693483/obama-restricts-intelligence-data/"},"headline":"Obama to Limit Data Collection by Intelligence Agencies","datePublished":"2015-02-03T13:06:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:05:44.412Z","description":"Modest reforms will also establish White House oversight over surveillance of foreign leaders","url":"https://time.com/3693483/obama-restricts-intelligence-data/","keywords":["intelligence","NSA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee67c2976d1324e6/69877d5306f2c1b0ef333c8a/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee67c2976d1324e6/69877d5306f2c1b0ef333c8a/57585409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.","caption":"The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/intelligence/","name":"intelligence"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3693483/obama-restricts-intelligence-data/","name":"Obama to Limit Data Collection by Intelligence Agencies"}}]}] ```