By Siobhan Gorman and Carol E. Lee

    President Barack Obama plans an address on changes to government surveillance practices Friday at the Justice Department. Here are five key issues to watch.

    Mass collection of phone data: Mr. Obama plans to call for an end to the government’s mass collection of American phone data and restructure the program so the data is held outside the government.

    President Obama will speak at 11 a.m. on the NSA’s surveillance program.
    European Pressphoto Agency

    Greater judicial oversight: Mr. Obama will immediately require a judge’s order for government searches of databases containing American telephone data under the phone records program. The president still hasn’t decided whether to require a court order for each search of the data. He is not expected to require a judicial signoff for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s issuance of “national security letters” to essentially demand information.

    Foreign spying: He’s expected to extend privacy protections to foreign citizens and institute a continuous review of especially sensitive U.S. surveillance, such as on leaders overseas.

    Independent privacy advocate: The secret court that decides on the NSA’s surveillance requests currently listens to the government’s case and then makes a ruling. Mr. Obama is expected to support the creation of an independent privacy advocate to act as a check on the government.

    A role for Congress: Mr. Obama will ask the attorney general, intelligence leaders and Congress to devise a new way to house the data outside the government, reporting to him before the program is up for renewal on March 28. Congress has a natural role: the law that allows the databases expires next year.

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