14 DAY TRIAL // The names rumored last week to be part of president’s Obama’s list of people appointed to review the NSA’s spying programs had been confirmed.
Barack Obama had promised to create such a group earlier this month in response to extensive criticism regarding the programs the country’s intelligence agency runs and the lack of transparency they display when it comes to their policies.
The committee is said to provide an interim briefing to the Director of National Intelligence in 60 days, before submitting a final report to the president by the end of the year.
However, while this all sounds good in theory, all the names leaked by ABC News late last week are said to have had a connection to the Obama administration, which doesn’t help add any “trust-points” to the entire affair, especially since the president said he would choose “outside experts.”
The list comprised five individuals.
Richard Clark has previously acted as the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism when Bill Clinton was president and he’s also author of several books.
Geoffrey Stone is a law professor at the University of Chicago. He’s also written several books on constitutional law and is one of the national advisory council for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Cass Sunstein is another law professor, who has worked as Administrator of White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for the Obama administration. He’s known for his academic papers in which he advocates for the government spies to monitor chat rooms, online social networks and real space groups.
Peter Swire used to work for the Ohio State University and he is co-chair of the Do Not Track group of the W3C. He has also acted as a special assistant on economic policy for Obama, as well as chief counselor for privacy to Bill Clinton.
Michael Morell is perhaps one of the names that has caused the most controversy over the past few days since he has formerly served as the deputy director of the CIA.