MWA Director, Aishah Schwartz Quoted in Support of Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Nominations

President Urged to Nominate Appointees to Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 9, 2010) – On March 1, 2010 a coalition of 25 civil liberty advocacy groups, think tanks and other nonprofit organizations sent a letter to President Obama [1] requesting the nomination of appointees to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).

According to the letter, the PCLOB “is one of the few safeguards adopted to protect Americans from improper intrusions into our privacy and civil liberties” from national security laws. With all five seats on the board vacant since late 2008, the letter is calling for the President to “appoint individuals immediately.” Excessive government intrusion into nonprofit programs is affected, in procedures such as USAID's proposed Partner Vetting System [2].

As one of the 9/11 Commission report’s recommendations [3], the PCLOB was designed as one of the ways of “reconciling security with liberty, since the success of one helps protect the other.” The report called for the creation of the PCLOB to “oversee adherence to the guidelines [the 9/11 Commission] recommends and the commitment the government makes to defend our civil liberties.”

Joining the call for nominations, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) sent a letter to the White House on March 8 [4].

"Having a fully functional Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is a key step in protecting the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans,” Leahy wrote.  “Given the many pressing privacy and civil liberties issues facing our Nation, including timely issues related to counterterrorism and cybersecurity policies, this vital Board has remained vacant for far too long.”

Representing one of the signatory groups, Aishah Schwartz, Director of the Muslimah Writers Alliance, said in a press release [5], “With the foiled 2009 "Christmas Day" bombing, the President and Congress have called for sweeping policy and legal changes – including the expansion of watch lists and more intrusive searches at airports – adding to the urgency and absolute necessity of filling the PCLOB's empty seats."

The letter was signed by American Association of Law Libraries, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Arab American Institute, Association of Research Libraries, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Center for Democracy & Technology, Center for National Security Studies, Council on American-Islamic Relations, The Constitution Project, Defending Dissent Foundation, DownsizeDC.org, Inc., Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Federation of American Scientists, Government Accountability Project, Liberty Coalition, Muslim Advocates, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Muslim Writers Alliance, OMB Watch, Privacy Lives, Rutherford Institute, and the U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation.

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MARCH 1, 2010 COALITION LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
MARCH 2, 2010 RELEASE FROM MWA

MWA Joins Coalition Urging Appointments To Post 9/11 Privacy And Civil Liberties Oversight Board

Mechanism designed to protect American's from invasive privacy and civil liberties intrusions stagnated by empty Board seats.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Log (Press Release) – WASHINGTON, D.C. (MWA) March 2, 2010 – In follow-up to an effort initiated by the Center for Democracy & Technology in November 2009, resurrected by the Defending Dissent Foundation in a letter addressed to President Barak Obama dated March 1, 2010, Muslimah Writers Alliance (MWA) joins the American Civil Liberties Union, Arab American Institute, Muslim Advocates and a host of coalition partners, in urging President Barack Obama to end the protracted delay in nominating appointees to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).

The PCLOB, created by Congress in 2004 based on 9/11 Commission recommendations, serves to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation of all laws, regulations and executive branch policies related to protecting the nation against acts of terrorism.

In an effort to allow the PCLOB to better serve the nation's citizens, Congress restructured the Board in 2007 providing it with independence and subpoena powers; a move yet to realize any of its full potential as the Board languishes due to a lack of nominations to fill empty seats. Thus, the revamped Board does not yet exist.

"The coalition's earlier request of November 2009 to President Obama, subsequent recommendations outlined in our March 1, 2010 letter, and comments made by National Intelligence Director, Admiral Dennis Blair to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on January 20, 2010, and testimony offered to the same committee on January 26, 2010 by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the 9/11 Commission, Governor Thomas Keane and Congressman Lee Hamilton, seem to have fallen on deaf ears, as we enter yet another month of stagnation in the process of insuring that the privacy and civil liberties of our nation's citizens are fully protected," stated MWA Director, Aishah Schwartz.

Schwartz added, "The PCLOB holds the potential of being one of the few safeguards U.S. citizens have shielding them against improper intrusions into privacy and civil liberties. With the foiled 2009 "Christmas Day" bombing, the President and Congress have called for sweeping policy and legal changes – including the expansion of watch lists and more intrusive searches at airports – adding to the urgency and absolute necessity of filling the PCLOB's empty seats."

In addition to MWA, organizations supporting this initiative include: American Association of Law Libraries, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Center for Democracy & Technology, Center for National Security Studies, Council on American-Islamic Relations, The Constitution Project, Defending Dissent Foundation, DownsizeDC.org, Inc., Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Federation of American Scientists, Government Accountability Project, Liberty Coalition, Muslim Public Affairs Council, OMB Watch, Privacy Lives, Rutherford Institute, and the U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation.

Call the White House switchboard today at (202) 456-1414, send a fax (202) 456-2461, or make your voice heard through the online contact form found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact, and urge President Obama to bring an end to the ongoing delay in appointing members to the PCLOB; your privacy and civil liberties are at stake.

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Established in 2006, MWA is an internationally-based collaboration of Muslim women writers working together to counter negative and inaccurate perceptions regarding members of the Muslim community and the Islamic faith.
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Muslimah Writers Alliance
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Washington, DC 20006
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RELATED:

Letter to President Obama Urging Nominations to the PCLOB (March 1, 2010)

Letter to President Obama Urging Nominations to the PCLOB (Nov. 11, 2009)

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board: In Need of Attention