Backgrounder: Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
What it is: The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (.pdf) established the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board as an independent agency within the executive branch. The law says PCLOB’s purpose is to
- analyze and review actions the executive branch takes to protect the Nation from terrorism, ensuring that the need for such actions is balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties; and
- ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of laws, regulations and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism.
