Litigation

Will Obama Resurrect Privacy Board?

By Peter Hardin

Privacy advocates once again are once again calling on President Obama  to make a priority of nominating members to the defunct Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and they are joined by congressional Democrats.

As mentioned in Gavel Grab last November, the board first was constituted under the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, and its members were terminated by January 2008 under legislation passed by Congress?with an understanding that new members would be picked and the reconstituted board would begin operating.

But that hasn’t happened, and according to a National Public Radio report, among those who were willing to give Obama a grace period, the consensus is growing that the grace period is past.

Twenty-four groups signed a letter to Obama March 1 and asked him “with increased urgency” to appoint members immediately. The letter asserted:

“As a result of the attempted Christmas Day bombing, your Administration and Congress are considering numerous policy changes that impact the privacy and freedoms of Americans, including expanding watch lists and more intrusive searches at airports.  It is crucial that you nominate qualified individuals to serve on the PCLOB, so that it may begin to provide guidance as new policies and procedures are developed.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told NPR, “I wish they’d hurry up and get the nominations up here.” He added, “I’ve written to President Obama and told him that this shouldn’t lag any longer.”

Lanny Davis, a former board member who found the board highly effective when it was operating, urged board appointments in a Huffington Post commentary. Davis first brought up complaints by former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney, that Obama and his administration have been too concerned about protecting civil liberties of terrorist. Then Davis invoked the defunct privacy board:

“The Cheneys may continue to spread fear that this administration cannot reconcile protection of our republic with protection of our republic’s proud constitutional foundations. But reformulation of this board and its effective, independent oversight powers under the 2007 legislation is the best answer to that terribly wrong, and in my opinion dangerous, position.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 18, 2010 (boomark / email).