The President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is an advisory body to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. According to its self-description, it "provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities."[1]
President's Intelligence Advisory Board and Intelligence Oversight Board Website
The PIAB, through its Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), also advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities.
Historyedit
In January 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the agency, originally known as the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities (PBCFIA).[2] The first board, under chair James Killian, included the following members:[3]
In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy renamed it to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB).[4]
The board exists at the pleasure of the President, who can change its size and portfolio so in 1977 President Jimmy Carter abolished the PFIAB, but President Ronald Reagan re-established it later.[5]
On February 29, 2008, President George W. Bush renamed the agency to President's Intelligence Advisory Board, its present form.[6]
Most of the board's work is secret, but one very public investigation involved the loss of U.S. nuclear secrets to China from the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the 1990s.[7]
Intelligence Oversight Boardedit
President Gerald Ford created the IOB following a 1975–76 investigation by the US Congress into domestic spying, assassination operations, and other abuses by intelligence agencies. His executive order doing so went into effect on March 1, 1976.[8] In 1993, the IOB became a committee of the PFIAB, under Executive Order #12863 of President Bill Clinton.
One of the IOB's functions is to examine violations of the laws and directives governing clandestine surveillance. The IOB received quarterly and annual reports from most US intelligence activities.[9] Thirteen cases involving FBI actions between 2002 and 2004 were referred to the IOB for its review.[10]
In an executive order issued on February 29, 2008, President George W. Bush terminated the IOB's authority to oversee the general counsel and inspector general of each U.S. intelligence agency, and erased the requirement that each inspector general file a report with the IOB every three months. The order also removed the IOB's authority to refer a matter to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation, and directed the IOB to notify the president of a problem only if other officials are not already "adequately" addressing that problem.[8]
In August 2013 it was reported that the membership of the IOB had been reduced from 14 to 4 under President Barack Obama, possibly starting in early May at the beginning of the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden.[11] The membership had not been increased as of July 2014.[12]
Membershipedit
During the administration of President George W. Bush, the PIAB had 16 members selected from among distinguished citizens outside the government who were qualified "on the basis of achievement, experience, independence, and integrity." The members were not paid.[13]
PIAB membership is generally considered public information; for example, the Clinton Administration posted the names of the members on a PFIAB web page,[13] and the Trump Administration issued a press release announcing the nominations of new members.[14]
George W. Bushedit
In August 2002, Randy Deitering, the executive director of PFIAB, confirmed the membership list released by the White House press office in October 2001:[15]
Philip Zelikow, National Security Council staffer during the George H.W. Bush administration and later a counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
In 2003, there were indications of spying on members of the board by a foreign intelligence asset.[citation needed]
Barack Obamaedit
The entire PIAB membership that served under the administration of George W. Bush resigned as part of an agreed-upon move in the presidential transition of Barack Obama.[16]
^ abPIAB Official Website. Archived 2017-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
^"Dwight D. Eisenhower: Executive Order 10656—Establishing the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities". www.presidency.ucsb.edu.
^Edwards, Philip K. (Summer 1969). "The President's Board: 1956–1960, Overseeing the intelligence community". Studies in Intelligence. Central Intelligence Agency. p. 114. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017.
^ abDavid Corn, "Who's On PFIAB?--A New Bush Secret", The Nation (blog), August 14, 2002, retrieved December 31, 2012
^ ab"President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2019 – via National Archives.
^David Corn, "Who's On PFIAB-A Bush Secret...Or Not? UPDATED" The Nation (blog), August 14, 2002, retrieved March 15, 2008
^Texas oilman Ray Hunt is no longer serving as a presidential adviser on intelligence issues
^"Remarks by the President Before Meeting with the President's Intelligence Advisory Board Co-Chairmen and Senior Leadership of the Intelligence Community" (Press release). Office of the Press Secretary. October 28, 2009. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
^"President Obama Announces Members of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board" (Press release). Office of the Press Secretary. December 23, 2009. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017.
^ ab"President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts" (Press release). Office of the Press Secretary. December 1, 2010. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
^White House Press Secretary, President Obama Announces Members of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, December 23, 2009
^ ab"President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts" (Press release). Office of the Press Secretary. September 6, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
^"President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts" (Press release). Office of the Press Secretary. April 27, 2011.
^"Obama upends intel panel". Politico. August 15, 2013.
^Steven Nelson (November 21, 2018). "Trump names hand-picked panel to supervise, investigate intelligence community". Retrieved February 12, 2019.
^Ferran, Lee (August 28, 2019). "Trump's secretive intelligence advisory board takes shape with security pros and GOP donors". ABC News. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
^"President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. May 20, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2020 – via National Archives.
^"President Biden Announces Appointments to the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and the National Science Board". The White House. May 4, 2022. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
^"President Biden Announces Key Appointments". June 15, 2022.
^"President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions". The White House. October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
^"President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions". The White House. November 22, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
^"President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions". The White House. January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
^"President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions". The White House. March 3, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
^PFIAB Chairpersons, The White House website, retrieved March 14, 2008
^"President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate, Designate, and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. August 16, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2019 – via National Archives.