The White House will later release today the report of the NSA spy-guard committee (incidentally, to say that the committee responsible for the commission was head of the National Intelligence, Mr. James Clapper).
According to the first estimates from the The Washington Post the Committee's recommendations will include a ban on the collection of telephone metadata by the NSA.
US President Obama met this morning with the five-member Commission and was briefed on the recommendations to be announced in the next few hours.
The report's 40-plus recommendations include banning the US National Security Agency, NSA, from requiring software companies to integrate backdoors for espionage purposes. Prohibition of the service's access to global encryption standards as well as the prohibition of using "zero day" vulnerabilities and hacking tools to penetrate foreign systems. The panel also suggested moving the NSA's information assurance directorate, which is in charge of protecting classified government computer systems, under a separate entity.
The committee also recommended the separation of powers of the NSA directorate, which is also responsible for the protection of the government's classified IT systems, in addition to its espionage operations on foreign networks. The idea will be that this will clearly separate the defensive mission from the offensive side of the NSA.
In short, the group appears to be cracking down on some of the most controversial practices of the NSA's 35.000 employees. The US Secret Service has been in the headlines since June when classified documents from Edward Snowden.
Of course, the commission, following Obama's order, investigated the case and in a few hours we will hear exactly what we wanted to hear. Starting tomorrow, or maybe 2014, the internet will be secure, conversations won't be recorded, and the NSA's 35.000 employees will be knitting, cleaning, and more extreme sports.
