Former ACLU Attorney Working In DNI Office - Still They Complain

Posted on August 8, 2006

The ACLU continues to criticize the Patriot Act and the Director of National Intelligence despite the fact that a former ACLU attorney is an insider in the DNI’s office. Tim Edgar was appointed by DNI John Negroponte to the post of Deputy Civil Liberties Protection Officer.

According to United Press International via Monsters & Critics

The ACLU was one of the organizations that successfully campaigned for an office for civil liberties and privacy within the new structure that Congress gave U.S. intelligence in its huge overhaul in 2004. But they probably never imagined that one of their top lobbyists would quit to go work there.

Tim Edgar, formerly a senior legislative counsel at the ACLU`s Washington office started work last month as the deputy civil liberties protection officer in the office of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte.

He is one of a three-person civil liberties and privacy team headed by Alexander Joel, who quit a lucrative private sector job after the Sept. 11 attacks because ‘we all needed to do something for the country’ and went to work in the CIA general counsel`s office. Negroponte appointed Joel last year to the new civil liberties post, a product of the same huge 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that created Negroponte`s own job.

Despite the fact that an ACLU insider is in such a key post advising the DNI on issues concerning civil liberties, the ACLU continues to obstruct the collection of intelligence vital to the national security of the United States. First they blamed September 11th on the inability for our intelligence agencies to connect the dots because they could not coordinate efforts and share information. Now that the DNI is in his position, they oppose every effort, not only to connect the dots, but to every method to collect the dots themselves.

We’ve seen their opposition to the NSA data mining program, the Treasury Department financial tracking program, and the renewal of the Patriot Act.

Caroline Frederickson said the ACLU ‘wished him well,’ but added it was ‘unfortunate that the position had so little influence.’

‘He doesn`t have much room to run,’ she said, calling the office ‘window dressing’ and ‘neutered.’

‘I hope he can have an impact,’ she concluded, but the statutory powers the office had would make that a steep hill to climb.

I am convinced that if Anthony Romero himself were appointed to the position, Fredrickson would still not be satisfied. The truth is, that Fredrickson has to complain even if there is nothing to complain about. If she didn’t, she would be about as relevant as Saddam Hussein’s defense attorney.

According to Joel, Edger acts like a check on the efforts being put forward by pointing out potential civil liberties concerns in proposed programs.

Joel explained Edgar`s value to the office as something akin to a miner`s canary — flagging up potential problems before they became the center of a public conflagration.

‘People welcomed the opportunity … to internalize upfront’ the civil liberties perspective that Edgar brought, ‘and use that perspective as early as possible in our programs and I think it`s been extremely helpful,’ he said.

But he declined to give details. ‘Like the job of the rest of the intelligence (agencies),’ he said, ‘Ours can be a thankless task. If we succeed, there will not be a problem … The program will proceed in a way that won`t raise any kinds of civil liberties concerns. That`s our goal.’

Edger has so far been impressed at the lengths that the DNI is going to protect the civil liberties of all Americans.

Edgar himself said that he has been impressed by ‘how dedicated many of the professionals who work in (U.S. intelligence agencies) are to the bedrock protections,’ for civil liberties contained in the Constitution and in statutes like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which many argue is breached by the administration’s warrantless surveillance program.

‘In their day-to-day work, people do want to be on the right side of that line (of constitutionality and legality), and they’re looking for this office to help keep them the right side of that line,’ he said.

In part, there was a fear of public controversy. ‘The last thing anyone wants is for their program to be on the front pages … a poster child’ for the civil liberties issue. Edgar said that caution ‘reflects an understanding (in the agencies) that if they don`t proceed carefully they`re going to get themselves in serious trouble.’

That is more than just wishful thinking on his part. Several former intelligence officials have told UPI in recent months that some of their still-serving colleagues are growing increasingly concerned about the legal territory they have been left occupying by the administration`s very aggressive interpretation of presidential prerogatives.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

One of their own on the “front line” checking and double checking programs for potential civil rights abuses and still the ACLU isn’t satisfied. Why am I not surprised.

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