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The Federation of American Scientists has posted a few Congressional Research Service studies related to the 9/11 Commission's report. (via BeSpacific.com).
The first (PDF) is a quick roundup of airline passenger safety recommendations made by the 9/11 commission and has a concise discussion of some of the thorny issues surrounding passenger and cargo screening.
The second (PDF) deals with the proposal to create a civil liberties board, which I've written about here, here, and over here.
President Bush established a board last Friday, while Congress is currently debating behind closed office doors what kind of board they will build.
The report gives some fine background on the proposal and suggests four models for Congress to consider.
These include the Office for Emergency Management, which, in the 1940s, investigated "complaints of alleged discrimination involving race, creed, color, or national origin, in federal agencies, industries performing federal contracts or otherwise essential to the [WW II] war effort."
The second model cited is the United States Commission on Civil Rights, which has the authority to investigate and issue reports -- but has no enforcement authority.
The CRS also points to the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB).
The IOB is a five-member board tasked with "informing the President of any intelligence activities that any board member believed to be in violation of the Constitution, statutory law, or presidential orders or directives; and forwarding to the Attorney General reports received concerning intelligence activities that the board believed might be unlawful.
And finally, the CRS report points to the Defense Privacy Board, which is supposed to "coordinate and direct all Department of Defense (DOD) privacy activities."
I know nothing of the last two boards, but I do know that the Army Inspector General never mentioned the final board at all when it released its report finding its contractor, Torch Concepts, did not violate the Privacy Act when it tested data-mining algorithms on JetBlue passenger data.
That alone makes me think it is not a good model to follow if you want an effective commission.
Endnote: JetBlue, of course, massively violated its privacy policy when it turned the 5 million itineraries over to the contractor in September 2002.
Though the company apologized for its actions -- calling it a one-time occurence designed to help with anti-terrorism programs--, TSA chief Admiral David Stone told Congress under oath that JetBlue actually turned over data to the government or its contractors 3 times in total. JetBlue has never publicly acknoledged these other transfers.
Posted by Ryan Singel at September 2, 2004 04:52 PM
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