WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday held his first meeting with the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, as he seeks to make good on his pledge to hold a public discussion about secretive government surveillance programs.

He has said the federal board, which reviews anti-terror programs to ensure that privacy concerns are weighed, will play a key role in that effort. The 8-year-old board had only met twice before.

Obama also wants Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to mull declassifying more details about the feds’ collection of US phone and ’Net records.