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President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, The (PFIAB)


Self Description

September 2007: "The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities. The PFIAB, through its Intelligence Oversight Board, also advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities.

The PFIAB currently has 16 members selected from among distinguished citizens outside the government who are qualified on the basis of achievement, experience, independence, and integrity.

The Role of The Board

Unique within the government, the PFIAB traditionally has been tasked with providing the President with an independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the intelligence community is meeting the nation's intelligence needs and the vigor and insight with which the community plans for the future.

The History Of The Board

The Board was established in 1956 by President Eisenhower and was originally called the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities. It gained its current name under President Kennedy and it has served all Presidents since that time except for President Carter. A record of chairpersons is available.

For over four decades the PFIAB has acted as a nonpartisan body offering the President objective, expert advice on the conduct of U.S. foreign intelligence. This role reflects the vital assistance that intelligence provides the President in meeting his executive responsibilities. The President must have ample, accurate and timely intelligence; and most recent Presidents have sought the assistance of a separate, unbiased group -- the PFIAB -- to advise them on intelligence matters..."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/pfiab/

October 2004: " The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities. The PFIAB, through its Intelligence Oversight Board, also advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities.

The PFIAB currently has 16 members selected from among distinguished citizens outside the government who are qualified on the basis of achievement, experience, independence, and integrity. "

http://www.whitehouse.gov/pfiab/

Third-Party Descriptions

November 2008: "An effort by the New York Police Department to get broader latitude to eavesdrop on terrorism suspects has run into sharp resistance from the Justice Department....An independent effort to investigate the dispute was undertaken in recent months by the president’s Intelligence Advisory Board, a panel of high-level business executives, former intelligence and foreign policy experts appointed by President Bush."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/washington/20terror.html

October 2005: The documents provided to EPIC focus on 13 cases from 2002 to 2004 that were referred to the Intelligence Oversight Board, an arm of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board that is charged with examining violations of the laws and directives governing clandestine surveillance. Case numbers on the documents indicate that a minimum of 287 potential violations were identified by the FBI during those three years, but the actual number is certainly higher because the records are incomplete.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102301352.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owner of (partial or full, past or present) Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) Organization Sep 3, 2007
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) White House (Presidential advisory staff) Organization Sep 3, 2007
Organization Executive (past or present) Anthony Stephen Harrington Person Sep 3, 2007
Member (past or present) Ray Lee Hunt Person Sep 28, 2007
Member (past or present) Secretary of State Henry Alfred Kissinger Person Apr 1, 2008
Member (past or present) Prof. James Q. Wilson Ph.D. Person Jan 10, 2009
Member (past or present) Dr. Philip D. Zelikow Person Oct 7, 2004

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
May 28, 2010 The Politicking Behind an Offer to a Specter Foe

QUOTE: the White House on Friday released a memorandum providing its first account of what happened with Mr. Sestak, arguing in effect that such political deal-making happens all the time in both parties...But Republicans escalated their calls for a criminal investigation and dismissed the everybody-does-it defense.

 New York Times
Nov 20, 2008 New York Police Fight U.S. Over Eavesdropping

QUOTE: The [New York] Police Department, with the largest municipal counterterrorism operation in the country, wants the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to loosen their approach to the federal law that governs electronic surveillance. But federal officials have refused to relax the standards, and have said requests submitted by the department could actually jeopardize surveillance efforts by casting doubt on their legality.

 New York Times
Sep 24, 2007 Iraq Oil Deal Gets Everybody's Attention

QUOTE: The oil deal signed between Hunt Oil and the government in Iraq's Kurdish region earlier this month has raised eyebrows, in no small part because it appears to undercut President Bush's hope that Iraq could draft national legislation to share revenue from the country's vast oil reserves.

 Washington Post
Jul 15, 2007 In Intelligence World, A Mute Watchdog: Panel Reported No Violations for Five Years

QUOTE: The President's Intelligence Oversight Board… is obligated under a 26-year-old executive order to tell the attorney general and the president about any intelligence activities it believes "may be unlawful." The board was vacant for the first two years of the Bush administration.

 Washington Post
Oct 24, 2005 FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations: Secret Surveillance Lacked Oversight

QUOTE: ... agents obtained e-mails after a warrant expired, seized bank records without proper authority and conducted an improper "unconsented physical search," according to the documents.

 Washington Post