A federal oversight board approved the constitutionality of a number of National Security Agency surveillance programs, many of which incited worldwide criticism when they were leaked to the public last year. 

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, whose members were appointed by President Barack Obama, endorsed the programs while also saying that some aspects of the programs need new safeguards to ensure that they are not violating privacy laws. 

A new report from the board Wednesday found that the NSA's mass collection of Internet information within the U.S. is constitutional, and that they have "reasonable" safeguards in place to protect the privacy of American citizens, according to The Associated Press. 

A January report from the agency found flaws in the NSA's collection of domestic records, and that the program lacked a "visible legal foundation." However, the recent study now endorses a different set of NSA programs that were disclosed last year by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden. 

The NSA is allowed to tap fiber optic lines to target the information of foreigners living abroad when their emails, text messages and other forms of communication go through U.S. telecommunication systems under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

The section of the act that allows for such data collection -- Section 702, which was added in 2008 -- includes the PRISM program, which allows the NSA to collect foreign intelligence from Apple, Facebook, Google and other cyber companies. 

The law was created out of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which was a data collection program created by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks. Congress legalized the program after administration lawyers declared parts of the law illegal, and disclosed some of the wiretapping program in public reports. 

Obama voted in favor of the bill in 2008. 

A number of Congress members and U.S. intelligence officials have agreed that Section 702 has thwarted terrorist attacks and enabled the U.S. to obtain other useful intelligence. 

In the report, the board said that the programs "led the government to identify previously unknown individuals who are involved in international terrorism, and it has played a key role in discovering and disrupting specific terrorist plots aimed at the United States and other countries."

Due to the intermingling of fiber optic lines in cyberspace, the data collection program also captures communications of Americans that have no connection to terrorism whatsoever. Anti-spying advocates have raised concerns that the NSA is getting intelligence from Americans without warrants, and have suggested that it is illegal under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment. 

The board, which included a federal judge, privacy experts and former Justice Department officials, found that the surveillance program was reasonable, and that the government ensures Americans' data is not misused. The government employs the method of "minimization," which leaves the names of Americans who have been spied upon out of intelligence reports unless they are relevant to the report in some way. 

"Overall, the board finds that the protections contained in the Section 702 minimization procedures are reasonably designed and implemented to ward against the exploitation of information acquired under the program for illegitimate purposes," the report stated. "The board has seen no trace of any such illegitimate activity associated with the program."

However, the board also said the programs "potentially allow a great deal of private information about U.S. persons to be acquired by the government."

The board wrote that they were concerned by the "unknown and potentially large scope of the incidental collection of U.S. persons' communications," and the collection of communications about a target that is simply being discussed by Americans. 

While the report approves of the program, it suggests that stricter rules should be implemented. The board suggests that NSA and CIA analysts use the names and email addresses of Americans only if it is likely that the surveillance will yield valuable foreign intelligence.