President Barack Obama says a proposal to have U.S. telephone companies hold onto call record data satisfies public concerns about government being in control of the data.

The Obama administration is expected this week to propose that Congress overhaul the electronic surveillance program to end the government’s practice of collecting the phone records of millions of Americans and holding them for five years so the data can be searched for national security purposes. The White House is expected to propose that the records be kept for 18 months, as the companies are already required to do.

The New York Times first reported on the administration’s proposal on Monday. Obama commented Tuesday in the Netherlands at the close of a summit on nuclear security.

– Scott Randell (@DefinedByMvsic)