WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Friday pledged an overhaul of government surveillance, acknowledging rising concerns over citizens’ privacy.

Obama said he would ask Congress to review a controversial section of the Patriot Act that allows collection of telephone records and would provide for greater outside oversight.

Obama, who held a news conference at 3:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), announced measures “to increase transparency and restore public trust.”

The move comes after Edward Snowden, a former US contractor who fled to Russia, triggered a storm by revealing details of sweeping US surveillance of the Internet and telephone records.

The US president said he’ll work with Congress to change the oversight of some of the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance programs and name a new panel of outside experts to review technologies.

Obama said he wants to work with Congress to insert an opposing voice into arguments before the secret court that considers and approves massive government surveillance efforts.

The court currently hears only from Justice Department officials who want the surveillance approved.

The secret court and other surveillance programs have been under scrutiny since NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed classified programs in June. The government has defended these programs as necessary to prevent terror attacks.

Speaking at the press conference, Obama said the government can and must be more transparent in how it conducts surveillance.

On July 25 the House of Representatives rejected a bid to cut funding for some National Security Agency programs by a surprisingly narrow 205-217 vote, with both conservatives and liberals worried about citizens’ privacy.

On Thursday, Obama held talks on surveillance with the heads of leading IT and communications companies including Apple, Google and AT&T, the newspaper and website Politico reported.

“The meeting was part of the ongoing dialogue the president has called for on how to respect privacy while protecting national security in a digital era,” another official said, without offering further detail.

Russia’s decision to grant asylum to Snowden triggered an angry reaction by the United States, which wants to prosecute the former contractor.

Obama canceled a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in protest, although foreign and defense ministers of the two countries went ahead Friday with a meeting in Washington.

Obama was to hold his news conference late Friday before leaving for a one-week summer holiday with his family in the tony resort of Martha’s Vineyard.

Congress is already on its summer break.

Caught between foreign policy crises and polarizing politics at home, President Barack Obama will hold a news conference Friday before jetting off on his August vacation.

The afternoon question-and-answer session with reporters will likely mark Obama's first comments on his decision to cancel a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in retribution for Moscow's decision to grant asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. The president may also face questions about the terror threat that has led to an extraordinary global travel warning for Americans, as well as the political chaos in Egypt.

Obama has found his domestic agenda stymied by Republican opposition. That's left the second-term president without a significant legislative achievement this year.

A sweeping immigration bill has cleared the Senate but faces an uncertain future in the Republican-led House of Representatives. Republican lawmakers continue to hold largely symbolic votes to repeal the president's health care overhaul. And looming this fall are potential clashes with Congress over budget talks to keep the government running and a deadline to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Congress is in the midst of a monthlong recess, with lawmakers due to return to Washington in early September. The president will take a one-week break beginning Saturday, when he and his family are scheduled to arrive on Martha's Vineyard, the tony Massachusetts island that has become a regular summer retreat for the first family.

The president has no public events scheduled during his vacation.

Obama held his last full White House news conference in April, though he has answered occasional questions from reporters in other settings and in interviews.