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The New York Times: Trump Seeks to Paralyze Independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Watchdog
January 22, 2025
Mr. Trump and his allies have been harshly critical of F.B.I. and spy agency power, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board has sometimes been aligned with that point of view. In 2023, its Democratic members annoyed the Biden White House by recommending that Congress require the F.B.I. to get court orders before looking for Americans’ private communications swept up by a warrantless surveillance program, which the Biden administration opposed.
Privacy advocates reacted with alarm. Among them, Jeramie Scott of the Electronic Privacy Information Center portrayed the Trump White House move as undercutting the purpose of the agency in being able to perform oversight free from interference.
“Calling for current Democratic members of the board to resign or be fired threatens independent oversight of surveillance programs by this administration and future administrations,” he said.
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