One of the things many outlets have been tracking since the inauguration of President Donald Trump is the aggressive way the administration is slashing parts of the federal government.
A lot of attention has been paid to large agencies working in areas like foreign aid and education. But privacy has also been impacted.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has dismantled the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and the Cyber Safety Review Board.
For more analysis on what this means, Texas Standard was joined by Stephanie Pell. She’s a fellow in governance studies with Brookings who recently published some commentary on the subject. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: We should note that these are fairly small and obscure bureaucracies. So we’ll start with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. What is this board’s function in the federal government?
Stephanie Pell: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is an independent agency with the mission of ensuring that the federal government’s efforts to prevent terrorism are balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties.
The PCLOB is comprised of five Senate-confirmed members. No more than three can be from the same party, and all are appointed by the president for six-year terms. All but the chair, who is generally from the president’s party, serve in part-time positions.
Its mandate is twofold: it conducts oversight and provides advice. When it conducts oversight, the board reviews the implementation of executive branch policies, procedures, regulations, and information-sharing practices to ensure that privacy and civil liberties are protected.
It also reviews proposed regulations, legislation, and policies related to efforts to protect the nation from terrorism and then provides advice to the president and executive branch agencies aimed at ensuring that privacy and civil liberties are appropriately considered. Most of its public-facing work comes in the form of reports.
Then the Trump administration has come after the Cyber Safety Review Board, which was just created during the Biden administration. What role did this board serve?
Yes, you are correct to note that the Cyber Safety Review Board, or CSRB, is relatively young. It first started in 2022 through an executive order that President Biden passed.
It reviews significant cyber incidents and then makes recommendations designed to drive security improvements in the public and private sectors. It’s unique in that it pulls expertise from both inside and outside the government, aimed at improving the security of the entire cyber community and the American public.
It is not just a single-victim company or a single-government agency looking at significant cyber incidents, but rather a broad effort to offer recommendations that benefit the larger community.
These boards aren’t household names, but what do you think the average person should think about, or how might they be affected now that they’re gone?
You are right. These two government entities are not household names.
But what I think is important to understand is that they are part of an independent oversight process that our government needs and uses to better serve the American public, and that Congress needs and uses to better engage in congressional oversight and legislative action.
When you dismantle these entities, you rob the executive branch and Congress of critical information. Ultimately, this puts the privacy, civil liberties, and national security interests of the American public at risk.
