PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES 

OVERSIGHT BOARD

JUSTIFICATION FOR APPROPRIATION 

FY 2015
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Members of the Board 2 

Background, Functions and Responsibilities 2

General Program Summary 3

Program Summary by Budget Activity 4

FY 2015 Request 5

FY 2014 Challenges and Accomplishments 6

Proposed FY 2015 Focus Areas 8

Proposed FY 2015 Mission Focus 9

Proposed FY 2015 Management Focus 10

FY 2015 Organizational Chart 11

Status of Pertinent Authorization 11

Appropriation Language 11
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MEMBERS OF THE PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD

Members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate:

Rachel L. Brand, confirmed and sworn in during August 2012 for a term ending January 29, 2017

Elisebeth Collins Cook, confirmed and sworn in during August 2012 for a term ending January 29, 2014

(term extended pursuant to the holdover provisions set forth in 42 U.S.C. § 2000ee(h)(4)(B); renomination submitted to the U.S. Senate on January 6, 2014 and pending consideration by the Senate 

Committee on the Judiciary)

James X. Dempsey, confirmed and sworn in during August 2012 for a term ending January 29, 2016 

David Medine, Chairman, confirmed and sworn in during May 2013 for a term ending January 29, 2018

Patricia M. Wald, confirmed and sworn in during December 2013 for a term ending January 29, 2019

(reappointment)

BACKGROUND, FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (Board) is an independent oversight agency within the 

executive branch established by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 

2007. The Board is comprised of four part-time members and a full-time chairman. Board members are 

appointed to staggered 6-year terms. 

The Board has two primary purposes: 

1) To analyze and review actions the executive branch takes to protect the United States from terrorism, 

ensuring that the need for such actions is balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties; 

and 

2) To ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and implementation 

of laws, regulations, and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism. 

The Board is required to report periodically on its operations to the President and the U.S. Congress, as 

well as to inform the public of its activities.

As an independent agency, the Board has no affiliation with or support structure provided by an existing 

federal agency or department. This continues to present an enormous challenge since the Board has been 

required to establish and maintain numerous service level agreements and contracts with other federal 

agencies and the private sector to support the necessary infrastructure to run a small agency, while at the 

same time ensure that it builds a skilled staff to address its oversight responsibilities.
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Although Congress created the Board in its current form by statute in 2007, it was not until 2012 that the 

Board could begin operations. Under its enabling statute, the Board may transact business with a 

quorum of three members. Accordingly, the Board began start-up operations in September 2012,

although without a Chairman, the Board only had authority to bring on detailees from other federal 

agencies. The Board only gained the ability to hire personnel once the Chairman took office in late May 

2013. The Board held its first Government in the Sunshine Act public meeting on October 31, 2012, for 

the purpose of receiving the public’s input on its forthcoming agenda. The Board held a second public 

meeting on March 5, 2013, to conduct business related to its stand up and to provide a status report on 

its activities to date; and a third public meeting on January 23, 2014 to announce the release of its recent 

report on U.S. Government surveillance programs. As explained further below, the Board also held two 

public hearings -- on July 9, 2013 and November 4, 2013 -- in connection with its review of the 

telephone records program conducted under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and the surveillance program 

conducted under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, and the Board will hold another public 

hearing on the Section 702 program on March 19, 2014. The Board also expects to hold additional 

public meetings to consider other particular issues in greater depth.

As a new agency, the Board continues to address a variety of administrative and personnel matters. 

These include completing the purchase and installation of information technology/telecommunications

equipment; refining finance and budget requirements; accelerating the hiring of personnel;

implementation of security requirements and procedures for the workplace; Sunshine in the Government 

Act, Freedom of Information Act, and Privacy Act compliance; and a myriad of other issues that are 

required to operate a federal agency. At the same time that the Board continues to address emerging

administrative hurdles, it also continues to delve into the important substantive aspects of its mandate, as 

referenced above.

PROGRAM SUMMARY 

Account/Activity: 

Salaries and Expenses

FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 Change From

Account Enacted Enacted Request FY 2014

Total Funding $827,570 $3,100,000 $8,008,000 +$4,908,000 

FTE 4 6 18 +12
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PROGRAM SUMMARY BY BUDGET ACTIVITY 

Object Classification 

FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015

Enacted Enacted Request

11.1 Full-Time Permanent 201,720 651,388 3,137,275

11.3 Other Than Full-Time Permanent 62,563 126,377 340,384

11.5 Other Personnel Compensation 6,910 16,101 34,314

11.8 Special Personal Services Payments 168,588 763,325

11.9 Total Personnel Compensation 439,781 1,557,191 3,511,973

12.1 Civilian Personnel Benefits 85,143 241,497 966,142

2 1 Travel and Transportation of Persons 62,000 110,000

2 2 Transportation of Things 5,000

23.1 Rental Payments to GSA 312,210 270,235

23.3 Communications, Utilities, and Misc Charges 132,456 176,413 1,252,000

2 4 Printing and Reproduction 8,000 45,000

25.1 Advisory and Assistance 345,396 1,199,150

25.2 Other Services from Non-Federal Sources 15,000 15,000

25.3 Other Goods and Services from Federal Sources 6,847 214,293 268,000

2 6 Supplies and Materials 10,000 102,000

3 1 Equipment 163,343 158,000 263,500

99.9 Total New Obligations 827,570 3,100,000 8,008,000

Identification Code 95-2724-0-054

 Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

Salaries and Expenses
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Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

Salaries and Expenses

Personnel Summary

Identification Code 95-2724-0-054 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015

Enacted Enacted Request

 Total Compensable Work-Years 

Full-Time Equivalent Employment 4 6 18

Full-Time Equivalent Overtime and Holiday Hours - - -

FY 2015 REQUEST

For FY 2015, the President’s budget request for the Board is $8,008,000. For the first time, since the 

Board began operations in 2012, the President’s budget reflects the original intent of Congress when it

created the Board in 2007 and authorized appropriations in the amount of $5,000,000 for the Board’s 

first year of operations, which Congress assumed would be fiscal year 2008; $6,650,000 for fiscal year 

2009; $8,300,000 for fiscal year 2010; $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and “such sums as may be 

necessary” for fiscal year 2012 and each subsequent fiscal year. The President’s budget allows the Board 

finally to hire the staff and secure the supporting infrastructure necessary to carry out its mission on a 

sustained basis.

This request is crucial to the Board’s ability to perform is mission in FY 2015 and to pursue a fully 

developed agenda. The request will both finance the completion of start-up activities and sustain the 

ongoing substantive operations of the Board. It will cover the salaries and related costs necessary to 

support an effective staff needed to maintain an efficient level of operations. This appropriation request 

represents an increase of $4,908,000 above the FY 2014 enacted level of $3,100,000, and is based on an 

estimated spend plan that includes current and new facilities lease, security, and information technology 

costs necessary for continued establishment of the Board’s office space1. The spend plan is focused on 

the following priorities:

 Building the Board’s staff with experts in law, technology and intelligence2;

 

1 The building owner of the GSA leased building at 2100 K St. NW where the Board currently resides plans to tear down the 

building sometime in 2016, therefore requiring all building tenants to find new office space. Since the Board requires some, if 

not all of its office space to be a Secure Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), this will require dedicated funding, 

some of it likely to be incurred in FY15, to identify and make arrangements to move to new office space.

2 This includes the potential need to increase the part-time Board members’ days worked from 60 to 130 days, the maximum 

allowed by law.
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 Advisory and assistance services from non-government experts, especially on technological 

issues;

 Rental payments to GSA and Building Security payments to DHS/Federal Protective Service;

 Administrative/Human Resources and Financial Services provided by the General Services 

Administration; and

 Classified and unclassified information technology and telecommunications capabilities, 

including required service level agreements.

FISCAL YEAR 2014 CHALLENGES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In FY 2014, the Board has made substantial progress in its efforts to achieve an effective operational 

capability as a fully independent agency within the executive branch. At the same time, the Board has 

begun to develop an understanding of critical government counterterrorism initiatives so that it can 

appropriately perform its oversight and advisory roles and promote public awareness and trust.

Of particular note was the January 2014 issuance of the Board’s first report, Report on the Telephone 

Records Program Conducted under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and on the Operations of the 

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Leading up to this report, and consistent with its statutory 

mandate to operate publicly where possible, the Board held two public forums. The first was a day-long 

public workshop held in Washington, DC on July 9, 2013, addressing different aspects of the 

government’s surveillance programs. The second was a day-long public hearing in Washington, DC on 

November 4, 2013, examining the value of the government programs, the operations of the Foreign 

Intelligence Surveillance Court, and potential program and process reforms. The Board’s report was the 

focus of separate House and Senate Judiciary Committee hearings in February 2014. During the 3rd

Quarter of FY 2014, the Board will conclude its review and release a separate unclassified report 

regarding operation of the surveillance program conducted under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments 

Act. To gather additional information for the report, the Board is holding another day-long public 

hearing on March 19, 2014, comprised of three different panels that will help the board evaluate both 

legal and policy issues concerning operation of the program, and consider recommendations to ensure 

that U.S. Government counterterrorism efforts properly balance the need to protect privacy and civil 

liberties. When completed, the Board’s review of these surveillance programs will have included three

public hearings, receipt of dozens of public comments, meetings with advocates and private sector 

representatives, analysis of classified materials, and briefings by government agencies.

The Board also continued to engage in informational sessions with federal agencies to better understand 

their counterterrorism programs and responsibilities. This includes: 

 Meeting with the President, Vice President and their staffs, as well as other White House personnel 

about the Board’s activities and recommendations;
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 Comprehensive discussions with the National Security Agency (NSA) on the implementation of the 

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act (FAA);

 Briefings from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) on the implementation of the 2012 Guidelines for Access, Retention, Use and 

Dissemination by the National Counterterrorism Center and other Agencies of Information in 

Datasets Containing Non-Terrorism Information;

 Programmatic updates from the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (ISE). 

Consistent with the Board’s statutory mandate, the Board is to provide advice and oversight on the 

implementation and administration of ISE programs and is considering a specific initiative to assess 

the effectiveness of the federal government’s support to privacy and civil liberties policy 

implementation at state and local fusion centers, particularly as they participate in counterterrorism 

related suspicious activity reporting;

 Comprehensive discussions with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of 

Justice, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, NSA and others to discuss the operation and 

oversight of programs under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act (telephone metadata) and 

Section 702 of the FAA. The Board also continued to solicit views from private sector firms 

regarding these programs;

 Meetings with industry representatives and with members of privacy and civil liberties advocacy 

organizations; 

 Introductory meeting with the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board to identify areas of mutual 

interest and assistance; and

 Speaking engagements by Board members at various conferences and public forums to provide 

greater transparency about the Board’s activities.

The Board also established its own website and is in the process of updating and improving its design 

and content. The website and the info@pclob.gov email address is a much exercised communications 

tool between the Board and the public to address inquiries and to facilitate an exchange of information 

about Board activities and documents that it has produced. 

Once it completes its next report on Section 702, the Board plans to resume follow-up discussions on its 

priorities, including the NCTC Guidelines, the legal rationale for the use of unmanned vehicles in 

targeted killings overseas; the Terrorist Screening Center; the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force; 

the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative; and the privacy and civil liberties programs at 

the Departments of Defense, Treasury, and Commerce. 

The Board continues to make significant progress in establishing itself as an independent bi-partisan 

federal agency, but continues to face significant challenges as it strives to reach full operational 
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capability. As a new agency, the Board continues to work closely with the Office of Management and 

Budget in the formulation of its plans and has established and maintained contact with its appropriations 

committees in Congress, as well as with the Homeland Security, Intelligence, and Judiciary Committees, 

and individual Members of Congress who have expressed interest in the Board. 

By law, the Chairman is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of personnel as may be 

necessary to enable the Board to carry out its functions. The Board has hired two full-time permanent 

employees, and has advertised and is interviewing with the intent of hiring an additional nine employees 

before the end of FY 2014. The Board also brought in three employees from other federal agencies on 

detail assignments and is continuing to consider a limited number of additional detailees. 

The Board is required to adopt numerous policies and procedures related to its operation as a federal 

agency and has:

 Finalized a No FEAR Act Notice available on the PCLOB website. This is a notice that all federal 

agencies must provide past, present and future employees about their rights under federal 

whistleblower and anti-discrimination laws; 

 Adopted a policy on Personally Identifiable information (PII) Breach Reporting and Response. This 

policy, required of all federal agencies, establishes the Board’s internal procedures for assessing and 

responding to any breaches involving PII maintained by the Board; 

 Finalized its Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act and Sunshine Act procedures and posted 

them at www.pclob.gov; 

 Implemented a rule delegating certain of its operational authorities to the Chairman and other staff; 

and

 Implemented a Security Policy and a Hiring and Compensation Policy as required under its enabling 

legislation.

The Board continues to identify and draft other organizational policies, such as ethics, records 

management, and other items related to its internal processes and procedures, and is in the process of 

drafting its third required semi-annual Report to Congress.

PROPOSED FY 2015 FOCUS AREAS 

The Board expects the following four priorities to guide its activities for the remainder of FY 2014 and 

throughout FY 2015: 

 Continuation of stand-up to ensure full operational capability, particularly hiring of personnel;

 Integration into the ongoing business of the federal government and its structure;

 Identification and examination of priority issues within the Board’s mandate; and

 Provision of advice and guidance to the federal government and transparency to the public.
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More specifically, the Board anticipates that during FY 2015 it will be focusing on:

 Follow-up on issues related to the Section 215 and 702 programs and the operations of the 

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including ongoing consultation within and outside of 

the U.S. Government about changes recommended by the Board and those developed within the 

executive branch;

 Responding to Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 28, Signals Intelligence Activities, dated

January 17, 2014, which addresses the collection, use and safeguarding of personal information 

as part of signals intelligence activities. The Directive encourages the PCLOB to provide to the 

President a report that assesses the implementation of any matters contained within PPD 28 that 

fall within the Board’s mandate;

 Further review of programs and activities related to the Information Sharing Environment;

 NCTC and other federal agency implementation of information sharing programs;

 FBI and DHS domestic intelligence activities as they relate to terrorism;

 Cyber security issues as they relate to terrorism;

 Additional counterterrorism programs to be identified for review by the Board and its expanded 

staff during FY 2015;

 Support to federal agency privacy civil rights/civil liberties officers as they exercise oversight of 

counterterrorism programs of the U.S. Government.

PROPOSED FY 2015 MISSION FOCUS 

 Coordinate and consult with federal and non-federal partners to identify and examine privacy and 

civil liberties issues of concern, to include reaching an understanding of common principles for 

privacy and civil liberties protections in the context of the Board’s mission.

 Develop and implement an issue and process analysis methodology for use by the Board as a 

recommended framework for analyzing the development, implementation, and operation of 

executive branch policies and programs related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism.

 Advise federal agency privacy civil rights/civil liberties officers as they exercise oversight of U.S. 

Government efforts to protect the nation against terrorism.

 Post online materials and information for federal agencies and to educate the general public and 

specialized audiences about privacy and civil liberties concerns related to U.S. Government efforts 

to protect the nation against terrorism. The Board plans to involve local, national, and international 

partners in its work. 
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 Develop a capability to respond to the media and general public regarding specific plans and projects 

pending before the Board and execute public outreach programs that advance Board goals, as 

needed. 

PROPOSED FY 2015 MANAGEMENT FOCUS

 Keep key congressional committees apprised of the Board’s progress, including committees on 

Appropriations, Judiciary, Intelligence, and Homeland Security and develop required reports to 

Congress. 

 Explore new leased office space for a required move in FY 2017. The current GSA building lease at 

2100 K Street NW expires in 2016, due to the current building owner’s plans to tear down the entire 

facility by the end of that calendar year. It will be a challenge to find existing SCIF office space in 

the downtown Washington DC area where the Board needs to operate and that search must begin by 

FY15. If there is no existing space that meets the Board’s needs, it may need to expend additional 

funds to build out a secure facility as part of a new lease; 

 Manage and maintain information technology infrastructure and solutions that advance the Board’s 

mission and improve overall operating efficiency.

 Enhance and promote greater public access and participation through use of Internet technologies 

and services.

 Ensure the security of PCLOB information and information systems through annual assessment of

information security and related program policies, procedures and monitoring practices.

 Continue to build the PCLOB workforce to the required level of strength and desired skills. Establish 

a workforce planning process that takes into consideration workload analysis and employee 

competency and skill assessments.

 Work with GSA to continue to strengthen PCLOB financial management through the recurring 

review and refinement of internal controls and procurement processes. FY2015 will be the first year 

that PCLOB will be sufficiently operational to initiate an annual financial audit. 
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FY 2015 ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

 Support Staff Oversight and Advice Staff

STATUS OF PERTINENT AUTHORIZATION

The authorization for the present account (95-2724-0-054) is contained in the Implementing 

Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, Public Law 110-53 (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 

2000ee). There are no estimates herein contained that exceed any limitations placed on the Board by 

Committee Reports for the preceding fiscal year.

APPROPRIATION LANGUAGE

Salaries and Expenses

For necessary expenses of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, as authorized by section 

1061 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (42 U.S.C. 2000ee), 

$8,008,000, to remain available until September 30, 2016.

Executive Director

 

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