Weeks before Trump takes office, this U.S. civil liberties board is in disarray

[JHan]

Last edited Tue Jan 3, 2017, 03:53 PM - Edit history (2)

A federal board responsible for protecting Americans against abuses by spy agencies is in disarray just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board will have only two remaining members as of Jan. 7 — and zero Democrats, even though it is required to operate as an independent, bipartisan agency. The vacancies mean it will lack the minimum three members required to conduct business and can work only on ongoing projects. Trump would have to nominate new members who would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

The board was revitalized after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures on the scope of U.S. spying in 2013. It notably concluded that the NSA’s phone surveillance program was illegal.

Since then, it has been crucial in ensuring members of Congress and the public have a window into the highly secretive and classified world of intelligence agencies. But it’s unclear whether Trump will support robust intelligence oversight. During his campaign, Trump appeared to support strengthened intelligence overall and surveillance of mosques, but he’s more recently expressed distrust of intelligence agencies. The Trump transition team didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jim Dempsey, a Democrat, will leave the board Jan. 3 because for months the Senate has not confirmed his re-nomination by President Barack Obama. And former U.S. Judge Patricia Wald, the only other Democrat, informed the White House this month that she intends to retire effective Jan. 7. The board also will lose its executive director, Sharon Bradford Franklin, who plans to step down before Trump’s presidency, according to an individual with knowledge of the board’s operations who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Already in limbo is a public oversight report on the use of a Reagan-era executive order that since 1981 has authorized sweeping powers by intelligence agencies like the NSA to spy even on innocent Americans abroad and never has been subject to meaningful oversight from Congress or courts. The senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein of California, has said her committee has not been able to sufficiently oversee programs operated under the order.

The privacy panel’s report on the order is stalled and there’s no work being done on it, according to the individual, who has knowledge about the project’s status. Some individual agency reports related to the order were expected to be completed before the board loses its quorum, the person said.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/us-privacy-board-disarray-trump-takes-office/?utm_content=buffer5466a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I pity the fool who thinks Agent Orange cares about oversight.

[GeorgeGist]

1. and so it goes