--- 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama to Limit Data Collection by Intelligence Agencies  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"}}]}] ```