White House Tampers With Congressionally Mandated Privacy Report
The Bush administration made more than 200 revisions to the first report of a civilian board that oversees government protection of personal privacy, including the deletion of a passage on anti-terrorism programs that intelligence officials deemed "potentially problematic" intrusions on civil liberties, according to a draft of the report obtained by The Washington Post. ...
The changes came after the congressionally created Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board had unanimously approved the final draft of its first report to lawmakers, renewing an internal debate over the board's independence and investigative power. ...
But one section deleted by the administration would have divulged that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's civil liberties protection officer had "conducted reviews of the potentially problematic programs and has established procedures" for intelligence officials to file complaints about possible civil liberties and privacy abuses.
The passage would have been the first public disclosure of an internal review identifying such potentially intrusive intelligence programs. In its place, White House officials suggested more modest language, which ended up as a substitution in the final report. ...
Another significant revision was the deletion of a reference to the panel's plan to investigate how the Department of Homeland Security assigns "risk" ratings to people entering the United States under the Automated Targeting System. The controversial program's scope has expanded over the past decade from screening cargo to targeting allegedly dangerous travelers, foreign and American. Customs officials have said they store the risk assessments for up to 40 years. ...
One deleted passage divulged that the board had sent a letter in late January asking Bush to issue an executive order to all federal agencies to fully cooperate with the privacy board. It was prompted by board members' concerns, including a lengthy delay in receiving a briefing on the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program and White House efforts to keep the media from attending a planned public board meeting scheduled just weeks before last November's election.
The changes came after the congressionally created Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board had unanimously approved the final draft of its first report to lawmakers, renewing an internal debate over the board's independence and investigative power. ...
But one section deleted by the administration would have divulged that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's civil liberties protection officer had "conducted reviews of the potentially problematic programs and has established procedures" for intelligence officials to file complaints about possible civil liberties and privacy abuses.
The passage would have been the first public disclosure of an internal review identifying such potentially intrusive intelligence programs. In its place, White House officials suggested more modest language, which ended up as a substitution in the final report. ...
Another significant revision was the deletion of a reference to the panel's plan to investigate how the Department of Homeland Security assigns "risk" ratings to people entering the United States under the Automated Targeting System. The controversial program's scope has expanded over the past decade from screening cargo to targeting allegedly dangerous travelers, foreign and American. Customs officials have said they store the risk assessments for up to 40 years. ...
One deleted passage divulged that the board had sent a letter in late January asking Bush to issue an executive order to all federal agencies to fully cooperate with the privacy board. It was prompted by board members' concerns, including a lengthy delay in receiving a briefing on the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program and White House efforts to keep the media from attending a planned public board meeting scheduled just weeks before last November's election.
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