May 16, 2005 | VaporPanel?

The Bush Administration has yet to name any members to a privacy and civil liberties board which was created in the fall in response to recommendations by the 9/11 commission, and a handful of Senators think the Administration is taking way too long and also being stingy.

The board is intended as a counterweight to post 9/11 security measures and the centralization of spy organizations in last fall's Intelligence bill.

Besides lacking employees and money, the board, when staffed, will also not have the power to force agencies to turn over records, though they can complain to the head of agency or to the Attorney General.

Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, along with Democratic Senators Joe Lieberman, Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy, sent a letter to President Bush on Friday asking why five months have passed with no appointments and why the board has such a tiny budget.

They wrote:

In particular, please inform us of the timeline and milestones for establishing the Board, including appointing Board members, hiring an Executive Director and other staff, and securing office space. We are concerned that, as of the date of this letter, the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Board have not been nominated. We urge that this be done as quickly as possible so the Board’s important work can begin.

In addition, the Board’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2006 is only $750,000. We are concerned that this is an inadequate level of funding for the Board to carry out its broad statutory mandate. By way of comparison, the proposed budgets for other offices within the Executive Office of the President are $4 million for the Council of Economic Advisors, $24 million for the Office of Drug Control Policy, $6 million for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and $39 million for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security’s Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, who is charged with addressing civil liberties issues facing one department, not the entire Executive Branch, has a proposed budget of $13 million.

Please provide us with details of the proposed budget for the Board and describe how the Board will set up a new office, hire the requisite staff, carry out its statutory mandates, and otherwise function effectively with this level of funding. Please inform us how many Full-Time Equivalents will be dedicated to the Board and its staff.

As the 9/11 Commission made clear, a strong and independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is a critical component of the enhanced system of checks and balances needed to protect the precious liberties that are vital to our way of life. Accordingly, we urge the White House to take the steps necessary to allow the Board to begin functioning effectively as soon as possible.

Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times has the story here.

Posted by Ryan Singel at May 16, 2005 10:59 AM

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Tracked on May 17, 2005 07:49 AM