EFF and Other Organizations: Keep Key Intelligence Positions Senate Confirmed

In a joint letter to the ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, EFF has joined with 20 other organizations, including the ACLU, Brennan Center, CDT, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Demand Progress, to express opposition to a rule change that would seriously weaken accountability in the intelligence community. Specifically, under the proposed Senate Intelligence Authorization Act, S. 2342, the general counsels of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) would no longer be subject to Senate confirmation.

You can read the entire letter here. 

In theory, having the most important legal thinkers at these secretive agencies—the ones who presumably tell an agency if something is legal or not—approved or rejected by the Senate allows elected officials the chance to vet candidates and their beliefs. If, for instance, a confirmation hearing had uncovered that a proposed general counsel for the CIA thinks it’s not only legal, but morally justifiable for the agency to spy on US persons on US soil because of their political or religious beliefs–then the Senate would have the chance to reject that person. 

As the letter says, “The general counsels of the CIA and ODNI wield extraordinary influence, and they do so entirely in secret, shaping policies on surveillance, detention, interrogation, and other highly consequential national security matters. Moreover, they are the ones primarily responsible for determining the boundaries of what these agencies may lawfully do. The scope of this power and the fact that it occurs outside of public view is why Senate confirmation is so important.” 

It is for this reason that EFF and our ally organizations urge Congress to remove this provision from the Senate Intelligence Authorization Act.