Obama Restores Power To Intelligence Oversight Board

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama Thursday restored an independent intelligence advisory agency's authority to tell the attorney general if it thinks that a U.S. intelligence agency may have broken the law, a move intended to improve oversight of those agencies.

That power was stripped away by former President George W. Bush more than a year ago. Bush's executive order limited the Intelligence Oversight Board to exposing potential violations of law to only the national intelligence director, the president and the agency involved.

Obama amended that Bush-era decision Thursday with his own executive order, ruling that the attorney general would also have to be notified of any possible intelligence-related violations.

Obama's amendment applies to the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, a larger intelligence advisory panel which has been coordinating with the White House on the adequacy of U.S. intelligence for more than 50 years. The IOB is a subcommittee of that larger panel.

In 1976, in the wake of widespread abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies, the five-member IOB was created and given full investigative powers and the authority to report potentially illegal activities to the attorney general.

Suzanne Spaulding, a former assistant CIA general counsel and national security expert now in private practice, applauded Obama's move.

"The president, the intelligence community, and the American people will be better served by an advisory board that has the authority to get the information it determines it needs. Greater independence gives the board greater credibility, which is particularly important for oversight in an area so shrouded in secrecy," she told The Associated Press.

The larger 16-member board is comprised mostly of business and political leaders. Obama appointed co-chairs for the board Wednesday, tapping Republican former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel and Democratic former Sen. David Boren, of Oklahoma.

In a rare public report in 1996, the board chastised the CIA for not informing the State Department that its foreign operatives in Guatemala were involved in kidnapping, murders and other human rights abuses.

Comments

[Oswego Joe]

11:33 PM on 10/30/2009

Its a shame that this President is not serious about protecting America. I hope that we do not pay the price for yet another short sited policy shift. What are those of you who are excited about this step so happy about? What are you doing in your lives where you are worried that the government might mistake you for a terrorist. This is downright frightening, I pray that we do not see the potential ramifications.

[fairplaystacy]

09:16 PM on 10/31/2009

Well all I have to say is that Bush & Cheney did an excellent job of keeping America safe as long as you don't count all the dead people and all the property damage from the 9/11 attacks. Also don't pay any attention to all the new Al Qaida recruits that resulted from the Bush Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prison human rights scandals, not to mention all the international law violations that isolated us internationally. Missing opportunities to capture or eliminate osama bin laden was also a Bush/Cheney stroke of genius for keeping us safe. Thank goodness for term limits.

[Lib Independant]

10:48 PM on 10/30/2009

Good to see a balance of power. Too bad the two party congress isn't showing one effectively.

[JerryAguy]

07:57 PM on 10/30/2009

Bravo!! Good job Barrack.

[benali]

03:09 PM on 10/30/2009

It's important that readers realize that President Obama is actively BLOCKING intelligence oversight and transparency.

Read the articles on this topic at Newsweek's Declassified blog at http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/default.aspx -- -

"Barack Obama's Idea of 'Government Transparency' Would Make Cheney Proud"

"Obama Secrecy Watch-- Don't Tread on My 'Executive Perogatives'."

[sbvpav]

02:03 PM on 10/30/2009

my let's hope they work 24/7 because there is a great deal to investigate - cia supported drug lord in afghanistan, black water, cia propaganda program, a shadow government within a government. has good ol' dick cheney been playing the pea in the shell game con to distract attention away from what is really still going on?

WE VOTE!

[realpolitic]

01:55 PM on 10/30/2009

Stripping power from the Intelligence Oversight Board is just one more example of why Bush was such a lousy president.

[LeeCalif]

12:23 PM on 10/30/2009

I don't think former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska should be given any legitimacy by President Obama.

Hagel owns the Voting Machine Company that personally got him elected in Omaha. It was the first time IN HISTORY that a Democratic area overwhelmingly voted Republican. Fishy.
Then Hagel and his staff dodged reporter's questions regarding his ties to the company until AFTER he was seated in his Senate seat.
Then, they changed the name of the company to ES&S.

Next, this company was used in the Mexican election where the Conservative candidate beat the popular people's candidate. Fishy again.

[CigarGod]

12:10 PM on 10/30/2009

On the surface, this sounds good.
But, who is on the committee?
We've all seen what good committee's and Commission's really do. People and facts go in...and mush comes out.

[jkpcguru]

11:37 AM on 10/30/2009

Good. The fact that Obama is still running many of Bush's intelligence programs didn't sit well with me. But after seeing this article, I am satisfied with what Obama is doing.

I have less of a problem with these intelligence programs if they are backed up with strong Oversight.

[Rog49Thomas]

10:54 AM on 10/30/2009

Read Legacy of Ashes and you will quickly see that congressional oversight has consisted primarily of turning one's head and averting one's gaze.

It wasn't a lack of power.

It was a lack of will to know. Cause once you know you're liable if you don't take action.

There is an apt quote in the book by Porter Goss - when the committee was confronted by accusations of involvement by local intelligence assets in massacres in Latin America. Since these weren't from a credible source, there was no need to even look at the report. The oversight committee quickly retired to no doubt some more important function like campaign fund raising.

[taddles]

01:06 AM on 10/30/2009

Excellent, now when are you going to get on board with real health care reform. We didn't put you in office to make nice with Rethugs, we put you in office to get things done, things the Rethugs wouldn't do.

[tigerakabj]

11:07 PM on 10/29/2009

Obama, keep doing right. 8 months into the last administration, we were attacked (after given ample warnings). I'm sure we won't be hearing this in the MSM. It runs counter to Cheney's accusations of weakness under this administration.

[allonfla]

10:09 PM on 10/29/2009

Wow! Another Unbush like decision and it gets 34 comments?

Had he chosen to continue with it, it would have been plastered on the front page with 4,000 comments.

[sviolette]

10:16 PM on 10/29/2009

They are all on the Harry Reid blog praising him for the health care fiasco.

[Gretel1or2]

10:34 PM on 10/29/2009

"health care fiasco?"

And it's mostly the malcontents who are on those threads griping and sniping that they did not get the perfect bill they were looking for.

[Gretel1or2]

10:38 PM on 10/29/2009

allonfla I'm with you on this one...it would have been front page headlines in 72 point bold red lettered font. There are some posters here who are determined to view this administration as a failure. I'm sure 99% of them cannot name a single thing the last administration accomplished in the first year.

[sviolette]

10:46 PM on 10/29/2009

They got us attacked by terrorists and then they became the terrorists.

[ChiGuy]

09:52 PM on 10/29/2009

One step at a time.

It's going to be a long road to travel undoing the devious and si nister acts of the prior administration. But Obama is just the person to do it.

[sviolette]

10:06 PM on 10/29/2009

I'll be impressed when Dick Cheney is indicted and not a minute sooner.

[allonfla]

11:15 PM on 10/29/2009

Yes, Keep hope alive - ain't gonna happen.

[MaybeMilo]

09:01 PM on 10/29/2009

Thank you, Mr. President.