President Obama on Friday outlined several changes he wants to make to U.S. surveillance programs, including an overhaul to the way the feds collect bulk phone metadata.

The president issued strong support for the intelligence community, but acknowledged that reforms are needed to make sure the National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence workers do not overstep their authority.

Obama outlined five changes, but the program that has generated some of the biggest headlines is the bulk collection of phone metadata, also known as Section 215. The controversy kicked off, for example, when it was revealed that Verizon was ordered to hand over all its phone records for a three-month period.

As a result, Obama outlined a two-step process to revamp phone metadata collection. "Effective immediately, we will only pursue phone calls that are two steps removed from a number associated with a terrorist organization instead of three," the president said. "And I have directed the Attorney General to work with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) so that during this transition period, the database can be queried only after a judicial finding, or in a true emergency."

Meanwhile, the intelligence community and attorney general must "develop options for a new approach that can match the capabilities and fill the gaps that the Section 215 program was designed to address without the government holding this metadata." They have until March 28, when Section 215 is up for re-authorization.

The White House considered requiring the phone providers to simply retain all their data so that the NSA could request access only when needed rather than seizing and storing it, but that "could require companies to alter their procedures in ways that raise new privacy concerns," Obama said.

Similarly, having an unrelated third party hold the data means that firm "would be carrying out what is essentially a government function with more expense, more legal ambiguity, and a doubtful impact on public confidence that their privacy is being protected."

Obama said the bulk phone collection program emerged after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when it was revealed that one of the hijackers made a phone call from San Diego to a known al Qaeda safe-house in Yemen.

"NSA saw that call, but could not see that it was coming from an individual already in the United States," Obama said. "The telephone metadata program under Section 215 was designed to map the communications of terrorists, so we can see who they may be in contact with as quickly as possible."

In reviewing U.S. intelligence operations prior to this announcement, "the Review Group turned up no indication that this database has been intentionally abused," Obama said. "And I believe it is important that the capability that this program is designed to meet is preserved."

Still, without safeguards, there is a chance that the phone data stored in the database could be abused, the president said, prompting today's changes.

Meanwhile, Obama's directive also calls for an annual review of intelligence policies, a greater effort to declassify information that passes through the FISC, and more restrictions on the government's ability to retain, search, and use in criminal cases, communications between Americans and foreign citizens incidentally collected under what is known as Section 702.

Obama's speech comes after a former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, released data to the media about the agency's tactics. Obama said today that he would not "dwell on Mr. Snowden's actions or motivations," but he is clearly not ready to forgive and forget.

"If any individual who objects to government policy can take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will never be able to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy," Obama said. "Moreover, the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come."

For more, check out 7 Chilling Ways the NSA Can Spy On You and What We Want Obama to Say About the NSA Spying Programs.

Also take a look at PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses Obama's changes to national security.