Spy World Links, Obama Ties Stoke Concern Over NSA Panel

Working in secret like the programs they’re reviewing, five men with high-level security clearances and ties to President Barack Obama will soon deliver a report that’s likely to reshape US government surveillance.

The group, which is scrutinizing the data harvesting by the National Security Agency, relies on the government’s spy office -- the very people it’s supposed to be examining -- for its staff and logistics. While that may be the safest way to handle sensitive materials, it also limits contrarian viewpoints, say people alarmed by the surveillance disclosures. “This is a panel of Administration insiders and therefore lacks credibility as a panel of independent reviewers,” said Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation in Washington, who participated in a Sept. 9 meeting with the review group. Credibility is vital because recommendations by the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications, if adopted by President Obama, could have consequences for Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple, among other technology companies.