海角大神

President Obama at his Aug. 9 press conference said that to 鈥渕ove the debate forward鈥� on National Security Agency surveillance capabilities, he would appoint a high-level group of outside experts to review US intelligence and communications technologies.

This smart-person SWAT team will consider how to maintain the trust of the people in the intelligence programs, while making sure there is 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� no abuse in terms of how those programs are used, Mr. Obama said.

鈥淭hey will provide an interim report in 60 days and a final report by the end of this year, so that we can move forward with a better understanding of how these programs impact our security, our privacy, and our foreign policy,鈥� he said.

Sixty days is a tight time frame, so this panel needs to start work. According to ABC News, the White House has now picked its members. They are a group of veteran security experts and former White House officials, according to ABC.

The names mentioned are not really 鈥渙utside鈥� experts, according to some critics. They are people who have ties to many current programs and officials.

鈥淧rivacy advocates aren鈥檛 happy with the composition of the group revealed so far,鈥� writes Andrea Peterson on The Washington Post鈥檚 鈥淪witch鈥� technology and policy blog.

According to ABC, members will include Michael Morell, a career intelligence officer who recently retired after serving as acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism official in the Bush administration; Peter Swire, a former special assistant to Obama for economic policy; and Cass Sunstein, a legal scholar who until a year ago was the current administration鈥檚 regulatory czar.

Mr. Sunstein in particular is viewed with suspicion by some critics of NSA activities. In the past, he has advocated that the government 鈥渃ognitively infiltrate鈥� online groups and websites in the name of increasing confidence in government activities.

鈥淪unstein? Really?鈥� writes NSA expert Marcy Wheeler in a critical post on her 鈥渆mptywheel鈥� blog.

The names published by ABC are not exactly diverse in terms of experience and generally have ties to the Obama administration, writes George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr on the legal blog 鈥淭he Volokh Conspiracy.鈥�

But it is likely that the administration needed people with preexisting security clearances to meet their challenging schedule. And 鈥渢he group might be effective in the end, as they each bring a different skill set and perspective to the problem,鈥� Mr. Kerr writes.