Washington, DC — On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump asked the three Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) to resign or be fired. The PCLOB is an independent watchdog agency in the executive branch that serves the critical role of ensuring that presidents abide by constitutional and statutory protections for privacy and civil liberties. Demand Progress Education Fund has been a dogged, longtime critic of warrantless government surveillance.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Education Fund Policy Director Sean Vitka:
“President Trump’s move to paralyze the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board paves the way for unchecked, weaponized government surveillance of all Americans. The PCLOB serves as a key check on a president’s ability to trample on constitutionally protected privacy rights and is one of the very few ways the public can even learn about abusive government surveillance.
A crippled PCLOB combined with an executive branch hungry to go after political enemies by any means necessary threatens to create a perfect storm of mass, weaponized surveillance. We call on President Trump to restore the independence of the PCLOB and we call on Congress to enact broadly popular, commonsense reforms to prevent the government from warrantlessly accessing our private, detailed information.”