[Infowarrior] - Oversight Board Briefed on NSA Spy Program

[Richard Forno]

Oversight Board Briefed on NSA Spy Program
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6244089,00.html

Tuesday November 28, 2006 8:46 AM

By JOHN SOLOMON

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Several members of a government board appointed to guard
privacy and civil liberties during the war on terror say they're impressed
with the protections built into the Bush administration's electronic
eavesdropping program.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board received a long-awaited
briefing on the secret program last week by senior members of the National
Security Agency.

Two of the five board members told The Associated Press on Monday they were
impressed by the safeguards the government has built into the NSA's
monitoring of phone calls and computer transmissions and wished the
administration could tell the public more about them to ease distrust.

``If the American public, especially civil libertarians like myself, could
be more informed about how careful the government is to protect our privacy
while still protecting us from attacks, we'd be more reassured,'' said Lanny
Davis, a former Clinton White House lawyer.

Alan Raul, a former Reagan White House lawyer and the board's vice chairman,
said the group ``found there was a great appreciation inside government,
both at the political and career levels, for protections on privacy and
civil liberties.''

``In fact, I think the public may have an underappreciation for the degree
of seriousness the government is giving these protections.'' said Raul,
author of a book on privacy and civil liberties in the digital age.

The briefing had been delayed for over a year because President Bush was
concerned - after several press leaks - about widening the circle of people
who knew the exact details of the eavesdropping program.

A breakthrough was reached in recent days and the five board members were
briefed during Thanksgiving week.

The board members are prohibited from discussing any specific protections or
tactics because the NSA program remains classified.

But Davis said he believes the administration could tell the public more
about the program's protections without compromising national security.

The board was created as a compromise between Congress and the White House
amid growing public and congressional concerns about the government's
tactics in the war on terror and their impact on civil rights.

Those concerns were fueled in part by news leaks that divulged the existence
of the NSA's eavesdropping program, a similar terrorist finance tracking
system and secret CIA prisons where high-value targets have been
interrogated.

Democrats, who are about to take over Congress in January, have been
concerned the board doesn't have enough independence because the political
compromise struck in late 2004 left the board under the authority of the
president.

Some have discussed elevating the board to an independent body like the
Sept. 11 review commission.

After meeting in private 16 times over the last year to discuss classified
matters and to be briefed by every major U.S. intelligence agency, the board
has scheduled its first public hearing Dec. 5 to solicit testimony from
nongovernment privacy experts.

The forum, to be held at Georgetown University, will hear from some of the
administration's privacy critics, including the American Civil Liberties
Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, as well as conservative
and academic voices.