What does this mean? Did he set up a Board on Civil Liberties

[vetwife]

Executive Order Establishing the President's Board on Safeguarding Americans' Civil Liberties





By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to further strengthen protections for the rights of Americans in the effective performance of national security and homeland security functions, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. The United States Government has a solemn obligation, and shall continue fully, to protect the legal rights of all Americans, including freedoms, civil liberties, and information privacy guaranteed by Federal law, in the effective performance of national security and homeland security functions.

Sec. 2. Establishment of Board. To advance the policy set forth in section 1 of this order (Policy), there is hereby established the President's Board on Safeguarding Americans' Civil Liberties (Board). The Board shall be part of the Department of Justice for administrative purposes.

Sec. 3. Functions. The Board shall:

(a) (i) advise the President on effective means to implement the

Policy, and (ii) keep the President informed of the

implementation of the Policy;

(b) periodically request reports from Federal departments and

agencies relating to policies and procedures that ensure

implementation of the Policy;

(c) recommend to the President policies, guidelines and other

administrative actions, technologies, and legislation, as

necessary to implement the Policy;

(d) at the request of the head of any Federal department or agency,

unless the Chair, after consultation with the Vice Chair,

declines the request, promptly review and provide advice on a

policy or action of that department or agency that implicates

the Policy;

(e) obtain information and advice relating to the Policy from

representatives of entities or individuals outside the

executive branch of the Federal Government in a manner that

seeks their individual advice and does not involve collective

judgment or consensus advice or deliberation;

(f) refer, consistent with section 535 of title 28, United States

Code, credible information pertaining to possible violations of

law relating to the Policy by any Federal employee or official

to the appropriate office for prompt investigation;

(g) take steps to enhance cooperation and coordination among

Federal departments and agencies in the implementation of the

Policy, including but not limited to working with the Director

of the Office of Management and Budget and other officers of

the United States to review and assist in the coordination of

guidelines and policies concerning national security and

homeland security efforts, such as information collection and

sharing; and

(h) undertake other efforts to protect the legal rights of all

Americans, including freedoms, civil liberties, and information

privacy guaranteed by Federal law, as the President may direct.

Upon the recommendation of the Board, the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security may establish one or more committees that include individuals from outside the executive branch of the Federal Government, in accordance with applicable law, to advise the Board on specific issues relating to the Policy. Any such committee shall carry out its functions separately from the Board.

Sec. 4. Membership and Operation. The Board shall consist exclusively of the following:

(a) the Deputy Attorney General, who shall serve as Chair;

(b) the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security,

Department of Homeland Security, who shall serve as Vice Chair;

(c) the Assistant Attorney General (Civil Rights Division);

(d) the Assistant Attorney General (Office of Legal Policy);

(e) the Counsel for Intelligence Policy, Department of Justice;

(f) the Chair of the Privacy Council, Federal Bureau of

Investigation;

(g) the Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis, Department of

Homeland Security;

(h) the Assistant Secretary (Policy), Directorate of Border and

Transportation Security, Department of Homeland Security;

(i) the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Department of

Homeland Security;

(j) the Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security;

(k) the Under Secretary for Enforcement, Department of the

Treasury;

(l) the Assistant Secretary (Terrorist Financing), Department of

the Treasury;

(m) the General Counsel, Office of Management and Budget;

(n) the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Community

Management;

(o) the General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency;

(p) the General Counsel, National Security Agency;

(q) the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence;

(r) the General Counsel of the Department of Defense;

(s) the Legal Adviser, Department of State;

(t) the Director, Terrorist Threat Integration Center; and

(u) such other officers of the United States as the Deputy Attorney

General may from time to time designate.

A member of the Board may designate, to perform the Board or Board subgroup functions of the member, any person who is part of such member's department or agency and who is either (i) an officer of the United States appointed by the President, or (ii) a member of the Senior Executive Service or the Senior Intelligence Service. The Chair, after consultation with the Vice Chair, shall convene and preside at meetings of the Board, determine its agenda, direct its work, and, as appropriate to deal with particular subject matters, establish and direct subgroups of the Board that shall consist exclusively of members of the Board. The Chair may invite, in his discretion, officers or employees of other departments or agencies to participate in the work of the Board. The Chair shall convene the first meeting of the Board within 20 days after the date of this order and shall thereafter convene meetings of the Board at such times as the Chair, after consultation with the Vice Chair, deems appropriate. The Deputy Attorney General shall designate an official of the Department of Justice to serve as the Executive Director of the Board.

Sec. 5. Cooperation. To the extent permitted by law, all Federal departments and agencies shall cooperate with the Board and provide the Board with such information, support, and assistance as the Board, through the Chair, may request.

Sec. 6. Administration. Consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Department of Justice shall provide the funding and administrative support for the Board necessary to implement this order.

Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) This order shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect the authorities of any department, agency, instrumentality, officer, or employee of the United States under applicable law, including the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable laws and Executive Orders concerning protection of information, including those for the protection of intelligence sources and methods, law enforcement information, and classified national security information, and the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a).

(c) This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the Federal Government and is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by a party against the United States, or any of its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, entities, officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

August 27, 2004.


He signed a bunch of these executive orders while congress was out of session........

[vetwife]

1. Kick for interepretation!

[cmayer]

2. Let's hope it's not another ...

"Clear Skies Initiative" or "Healthy Forests Initiative."

My guess is the best way to figure out what it means is to peruse the resumes and writings of the assigned members.

Can we match up names to positions? Research time.

[punpirate]

3. Window dressing...

... meant to make the sheep think the Bushies are concerned with Constitutional rights. No enforceable powers, the potential for endless committees, and because the members can delegate others to do their job, there's no obligation for them to actually accomplish anything.

And, because any one of those delegated members can be from the Senior Intelligence Service, it's a perfect below-the-radar means of gauging legal complaints about Justice Department performance and devising legislation to get around them.

This sounds more like a working group to get around and expand the PATRIOT Act than it does one to ensure the protection of individual rights.

One thing, for sure--you can bet that Bush didn't dream this up on his own.

[vetwife]

4. I agree with both of you..Sounds like an expansion of even

Patriot Act II......His Party...His People...His interpreation of
the law..Congress was not in session when he did this and there has been nothing mentioned about this anywhere. THe new Director looks to me like on one of those Executive orders that I did not post is His man too. My God..people better start checking his passing laws without congressional approval everyday. This would have had to be done just before the convention. Whenever I read about all of those chairs and committees ....I remember how the dems get locked out ! Opinions from any of you please !

[vetwife]

5. Was this drafted after Kennedy and Lewis complained?

Don't think so. It happened about the same time.

[punpirate]

6. What's most interesting about this...

... and one of the most troublesome aspects of it is that it's all appointed positions (therefore, these are all his own boys and girls; one would think that, if the principal concern were preservation of Constitutional rights, there would be at least a few spots on the board relegated to private citizens and/or private sector specialists in Constitutional law. Nada on those.

Moreover, the board composition is overloaded with security and intelligence types--there's only two spots with anything to do with civil rights. And most of us know just how diligent Ashcroft's DoJ Civil Rights Division has been protecting individual rights, for example.

What I don't know is if funding for this operation has been included in a prior signed appropriations bill. This says the money comes from the DoJ, so it will be interesting to see from what budget that money comes and how the expenditure of funds is justified.

This is precisely the sort of executive order that convinces me that the greater good in getting Bush out of the WH is that all these ideologues that came in on his coattails will be gone, too. These wunderkinder are the ones doing the real damage.

[vetwife]

7. It boils down to No accountability and probably

trying to dismantle the ACLU

[punpirate]

8. Well, the only way they can...

... dismantle the ACLU would be to find a way to dry up its funding.

What they can do, however, would be to flood Congress with many pieces of proposed bad legislation so that the ACLU would be overwhelmed addressing it all and lobbying Congress to avoid it.

That has the additional benefit (from the administration's point of view) of overwhelming Congress, as well. Virtually no one read the Patriot Act, and the tactic now is introduce individual bits of what they wanted in Patriot II, usually introduced on the sly or at the last minute. So, what if the volume of those went up dramatically? Very worrisome.

[vetwife]

9. You know what? We need folks checking those Orders ever so often !

[Eloriel]

10. Good points

I knew as soon as I saw ANY "Homeland Security" positions involved that this E.O. is up to no good.

Well, Bush hasn't done anything that was for the good of the country or its people, so that's a given.

This is scarey. Bad news (of what kind it's impossible to tell - at least for me) dressed up as a civil rights initiative. More Orwellspeak.

Very scarey.