American government office

The President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is an advisor to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. According to its self-description, it "...provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities."[1]

The PIAB, through its Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), also advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities.

History [ edit ]

In January 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower created the agency, originally known as the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities (PBCFIA).[2] The first board under Chair James Killian were:[3]

In May 1961, John F. Kennedy renamed it to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB).[4] The board exists at the pleasure of the President, who can change its size and portfolio so in 1977 President Jimmy Carter abolished the PFIAB, but President Ronald Reagan re-established it later.[5]

On February 29, 2008, president George W. Bush renamed the agency to its present form.[6]

Most of the board's work is secret, but one very public investigation involved the loss of U.S. nuclear secrets to China from the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the 1990s.[7]

Intelligence Oversight Board [ edit ]

President Gerald Ford created the IOB following a 1975–76 investigation by the US Congress into domestic spying, assassination operations, and other abuses by intelligence agencies. His executive order doing so went into effect on March 1, 1976.[8] In 1993, the IOB became a committee of the PFIAB, under Executive Order #12863 of President Bill Clinton.

One of the IOB's functions is to examine violations of the laws and directives governing clandestine surveillance. The IOB received quarterly and annual reports from most US intelligence activities.[9] Thirteen cases involving FBI actions between 2002 and 2004 were referred to the IOB for its review.[10]

In an executive order issued on February 29, 2008, President George W. Bush terminated the IOB's authority to oversee the general counsel and inspector general of each U.S. intelligence agency, and erased the requirement that each inspector general file a report with the IOB every three months. The order also removed the IOB's authority to refer a matter to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation, and directed the IOB to notify the president of a problem only if other officials are not already "adequately" addressing that problem.[8]

In August 2013 it was reported that the membership of the IOB had been reduced from 14 to 4 under President Barack Obama, possibly starting in early May at the beginning of the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden.[11] The membership had not been increased as of July 2014.[12]

Membership [ edit ]

During the administration of George W. Bush, the PIAB had 16 members selected from among distinguished citizens outside the government who were qualified "on the basis of achievement, experience, independence, and integrity." The members were not paid.[13]

PIAB membership is generally considered public information; for example, the Clinton Administration posted the names of the members on a PFIAB web page,[13] and the Trump Administration issued a press release announcing the nominations of new members.[14]

PFIAB Membership under George W. Bush [ edit ]

In August 2002, Randy Deitering, the executive director of PFIAB, confirmed the membership list released by the White House press office in October 2001:[15]

In 2003 there were indications of spying on members of the board by a foreign intelligence asset.[citation needed]

PIAB Membership under Barack Obama [ edit ]

The entire PIAB membership that served under the administration of George W. Bush resigned as part of an agreed-upon move in the presidential transition of Barack Obama.[16]

Pres. Obama appointed Chuck Hagel, former United States Senator from Nebraska, and current University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren as PIAB co-chairs.[17]

The following other members were appointed to the board under President Obama:[18]

In May 2013, the White House dismissed 10 members of the board.[23] The four remaining members of the PIAB were:[1]

Richard Danzig

Daniel Meltzer

Judith Miscik

Mona Sutphen

In August 2014, President Obama nominated six new members:[24]

James S. Crown

Scott Davis

Jamie Dos Santos

Julius Genachowski

Shirley Ann Jackson

Neal Wolin

PIAB Membership under Donald Trump [ edit ]

President Donald Trump nominated the following people to PIAB:[25]

Stephen Feinberg, chair

Samantha Ravich, vice chair

Safra Ada Catz

Saxby Chambliss

James Donovan

Kevin E. Hulbert

Jeremy Katz

David Robertson

In February 2019, President Trump named three additional members:[26]

Charles E. Allen

Daniel Hoffman

John K. Hurley

PIAB Chairs [ edit ]

PIAB chairpersons have been:[27]

IOB Chairs [ edit ]

These are chairs of the Advisory Board's committee of Intelligence Oversight Board

Board Executive Directors [ edit ]

1956–1959: John Cassidy

1959–1961, 1961–1970: Patrick Coyne

1970–1973: Gerard Burke

1973–1977: Wheaton Byers

1977: Lionel Olmer

1977–1981: Board abolished

1981–1983: Norman Wood

1983–1984: Fred Demech

1984–1988: Gary Schmitt

1988–1989: Fred Demech

1989–1991: Nina Stewart

1991–1992: Vacant

1992–1995: Eugene Yeates

1995–2003: Randy Deitering (Acting: 1995–1998)

2003–2005: Joan Dempsey

2005–2017: Stefanie Osburn

Board Members [ edit ]

See also [ edit ]