AP - White House to Keep NSA, Cyber Oversight Together

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By Julie Pace and Stephen Braun

The Obama administration will continue the National Security Agency's surveillance programs and cyber command operations under the direction of a single military commander, the first move in advance of what published reports described Friday as limited changes proposed by a task force that deliberated for months in secrecy.

The administration had considered splitting oversight of the two sensitive national security programs amid revelations about its surveillance programs sweeping phone and Internet data inside the U.S. and around the world. But National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden said Friday that the government believes maintaining the oversight responsibilities together under one command is the most effective approach to accomplishing both agencies' missions.

One lawmaker said the review panel recommendations could aid plans to end the government's direct control over telephone data.

"I'd encourage the administration to move in the direction of phone companies retaining the data," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Ca., said Friday.

Schiff, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has offered legislation to shift control of phone records from the NSA to the phone companies and said the move could be made without diminishing national security. He noted that the firms already hold the same data that the government sweeps up for 18 months and could quickly turn over that material quickly to the NSA and law enforcement. NSA officials have warned that investigations could bog down if the government lost direct control over the records.

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