The White House has set the wheels in motion to bring the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) to its full roster of five members.
President Biden on June 18 nominated J. Tyler McGaughey as one of two Republican members on the five-person board. The nomination has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.
The PCLOB is an independent agency within the executive branch that was established by the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. The board’s primary mission is to ensure Federal efforts to prevent terrorism are balanced with protecting privacy and civil liberties.
McGaughey would bring a wealth of government and private sector experience to the position. He is a former partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, and before that was deputy assistant secretary for investment security at the Treasury Department, and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2014 to 2019. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2001 to 2006.
“We congratulate Tyler McGaughey on his nomination,” said current PCLOB members – Chair Sharon Bradford Franklin and board members Ed Felten, Travis LeBlanc, and Beth Williams.
“His knowledge and expertise would be a valued addition to the Board’s work in ensuring that America’s counterterrorism efforts are effectively balanced against the need to safeguard privacy and civil liberties,” they said.
PCLOB in recent years has been active in evaluating Federal government surveillance policies, and is planning a July 11 public forum on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in counterterrorism and related national security programs, and privacy and civil liberties issues associated with these uses of AI. The forum will feature an address by Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who is co-chair of the Senate AI Caucus and a member of the Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group.
