President Obama Locking In Cosmetic NSA 'Reforms' Before Key Privacy Board Can Even Weigh In

from the that-doesn't-seem-right dept

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While so much attention has been paid to the special White House task force that was set up to look at the NSA situation, and the fact that President Obama is planning to announce his almost entirely cosmetic "reforms" for the NSA tomorrow, it seems that almost everyone has forgotten that there is an official Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) that is planning to give its own recommendations concerning the NSA's programs... only, it's after the President will have already announced his plans. Admittedly, it must be easy to forget about or ignore the PCLOB. As we discussed a year and a half ago, the federal government (under both Presidents Bush and Obama) left it entirely unstaffed for nearly five years . However, it does now exist and has also been investigating the NSA's programs and their impact on privacy and civil liberties.Earlier this month, the PCLOB announced that it will be releasing its findings ... in late January or after February. In other words, the recommendations will bethe President has already announced his plans. It does sound like the PCLOB report will be fairly thorough -- there will be one focused on Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act (the bulk metadata collection), a report on how FISC works, and a final report on Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. Basically, three separate looks at the most controversial aspects of the NSA's activities. And all of them coming after the President has already made up his mind.Of course, while it might seem odd that the President would announce his plans just a few days before the government's official organization in charge of privacy and civil liberties announces its findings... it's not that odd if theis to basically cut off any serious consideration of whatever they actually end up recommending. And, of course, you don't even have to be overly cynical to assume that's exactly what's happening.

Filed Under: barack obama, nsa, pclob, reform, surveillance