NSA panel looks for surveillance overhaul A panel appointed by Barack Obama to review electronic intelligence collection has recommended the government continue to have access to phone records of US citizens suspected of terrorism but that the data be held by private, not government, entities. Mr Obama commissioned the report in the wake of a flood of revelations by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, the national electronics surveillance body, which created a backlash at home and abroad. "The government should not be permitted to collect and store mass, undigested, non-public personal information about US persons for the purpose of enabling future queries and data-mining for foreign intelligence purposes," the report says. The US has been embarrassed by the details of the reach of US intelligence, often conducted in partnership with its allies, as well as other revelations leaked by Mr Snowden that it bugged the leaders of friendly nations, such as Germany's Angela Merkel. The report takes aim at the NSA's claim that its bulk metadata program, which refers to the numbers and timeframe of a call, is essential to tracking suspected terrorists and preventing attacks - the second time in a week that the agency's assertion has been cast into doubt by outside scrutiny. "Our review suggests the information contributed to terrorist investigations by the use of telephony metadata was not essential to preventing attacks and could readily have been obtained in a timely manner using conventional [warrants]," the report says. Keith Alexander, the NSA director, told the 60 Minutes television programme on Sunday that the agency's collection and storage of bulk data was crucial to prevent another disaster like the 9/11 attacks. However, a federal judge who ruled this week that the bulk collection programme was likely to be unconstitutional also queried the NSA's claim that bulk collection was essential. The report says phone and internet metadata could be stored by the companies themselves or other "private third parties," and then accessed by US intelligence agencies on demand. Telecoms industry insiders expressed concerns that the panel's recommendations could expose them to substantial cost, and open them up to requests for access from other agencies or perhaps foreign governments. The panel also called for new legislation to increase transparency about the orders that private companies receive for access to their data, including the number and type of requests. For foreigners, the report recommends measures to tighten both the surveillance and oversight of bulk collection of phone and internet records. They include stricter rules governing who is targeted and for what reason, which explicitly rule out commercial intelligence for domestic firms, and restrictions on the dissemination of information not relevant to US "national security." Following the revelation about the bugging of German chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, the report says the "highest-level approval" is needed for surveillance of foreign leaders. It appears to recommend formal limits on the surveillance of heads of democratic governments, saying new procedures should apply to "nations with whom we share fundamental values and interests." "We recommend that with a small number of closely allied governments, meeting specific criteria, the US Government should explore understandings or arrangements regarding intelligence collection guidelines and practices with respect to each others" citizens," the report says. Such a recommendation, depending on how it was implemented, could mark a substantial change in US intelligence practice. Presently the US only agrees not to spy on its longstanding postwar intelligence partners - the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The report also calls for structural changes such as allowing a civilian to head the agency, although Mr Obama seems to have already rejected this recommendation. Otherwise, Mr Obama's spokesman said the president would study the report over the holiday period and consult with Congress over which recommendations should be implemented. The members of the review panel were Michael Morrell, a former acting head of the CIA, Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism adviser, Cass Sunstein, a law professor and former aide to Mr Obama, Peter Swire, who advised President Bill Clinton on privacy, and Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor. Additional reporting by Paul Taylor in New York