Privacy Board Clears U.S. Spy Programs

A white house privacy board is giving its stamp of approval to two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs - electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking - and says they do not violate citizens' civil liberties.
The report finds that both the national security 's warrant less eavesdropping program and the Treasury Department's monitoring of international banking transactions have sufficient privacy protections, three board members told The Associated Press in telephone interviews.
Lanny Davis, a former white house counsel and the lone Democrat on the panel, described the board's first report to Congress as modest.
The board's initial findings come as Congress is moving forward on measures to give the board more authority and make it more independent of the president. Both conservative and liberal civil liberties groups have urged the members to aggressively review the eavesdropping program and have questioned whether board members would stand up to the president if he were flouting the law.
"It is critical that Congress make the civil liberties board independent of the executive branch."
The privacy board members declined to comment on the proposed legislation. But Bush appointed Dinkins, a Republican, to chair the board.
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