The White House has proposed to halt the National Security Agency's controversial bulk telephone data collection of Americans, a program which sparked a vast public outcry.
The plan would store the data outside of government while allowing access for national security reasons, officials said.
President Barack Obama -- in The Hague for a nuclear security summit -- called the plan "workable" and said it "addresses the two core concerns that people have" about the NSA's surveillance.
The president also told a press conference that the reform "ensures that the government is not in possession of that bulk data."
Obama said there were "clear safeguards" against any abuse of the NSA's authority but added: "I recognize that people were concerned about what might happen in the future with that bulk data."
"So, overall, I am confident that it allows us to do what is necessary in order to deal with the dangers from a terrorist attack, but does so in a way that addresses some of the concerns that people had raised," he said.
A senior administration official said earlier that Obama had considered the results of a study he ordered in January into how the NSA could protect national interests without storing citizens' private data.
The comments came after reports in the New York Times and Washington Post that a major reform of data collection by US intelligence agencies was imminent.
The Times reported that the records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would, and that the NSA would obtain specific records with permission from a judge, using a new kind of court order.
A trove of documents leaked by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden sparked outrage in the United States and abroad about the vast capabilities of America's intelligence programs.
Officials have defended the methods as necessary to thwart terror attacks but US public opinion was shocked by the extent of the NSA's activities on home soil.
