EPIC Urges PCLOB to Investigate Fusion Centers, Aerial Surveillance

In comments to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) after a public forum on domestic terrorism investigations, EPIC urged the Board to investigate fusion centers and federal agency’s use of aerial surveillance. EPIC’s comments follow up on previous comments to the Board on the agenda for the domestic terrorism public forum. In the new comments, EPIC provided specific instances of protest policing and surveillance abuses that the PCLOB should use it’s authority to investigate.

EPIC has been a proponent of empowering the Board to conduct meaningful oversight of government surveillance since its inception. EPIC previously urged the Oversight Board to conduct a review of surveillance under Executive Order 12333. In 2020, EPIC and a coalition of 40 organizations urged the PCLOB to recommend suspending face surveillance across the federal government.