President Obama on Monday ordered the creation of an outside review board to analyze his administration’s controversial surveillance techniques, saying he wanted the group to report back to him with its findings by Dec. 15.

“The Review Group will assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust,” Obama said in a memo to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, released by the White House.