Intel transparency

NSA appoints first transparency officer

The National Security Agency has appointed its first transparency officer — three years after leaks made by former contractor Edward Snowden exposed the agency’s surveillance programs and led to calls for increased public disclosures.

Rebecca Richards, who already serves as director of the NSA’s Civil Liberties and Privacy, will take on the dual role as the agency’s transparency officer.

A brief NSA announcement of the appointment states that the dual role “complements ongoing initiatives to ensure that NSA has the best civil liberties and privacy practices.” Officials did not immediately respond to questions regarding why a stand-alone position was not created.

IC Transparency Implementation Plan

Intel transparency

IC Transparency Implementation Plan

The Principles of Intelligence Transparency

In February 2015, the Director of National Intelligence published the Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the Intelligence Community. These Principles are intended to facilitate Intelligence Community decisions on making information publicly available in a manner that enhances public understanding of intelligence activities, while continuing to protect information when disclosure would harm national security. There are four Principles:

1. Provide appropriate transparency to enhance public understanding of the IC
2. Be proactive and clear in making information publicly available
3. Protect information about intelligence sources, methods, and activities
4. Align IC roles, resources, processes, and policies to support transparency implementation

Intel transparency

Privacy Groups Challenge Director of National Intelligence to Uphold Transparency Promise

More than 30 privacy and civil liberties organizations are challenging Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to uphold the promise he made Tuesday to increase transparency in the intelligence community.

Specifically, they are asking Clapper to provide more information about how many Americans are “incidentally” spied on in the course of foreign intelligence gathering under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“Disclosing this information is necessary, we believe, to enable informed public debate in advance of any legislative reauthorization efforts in 2017,” said the letter from the Brennan Center for Justice, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Government Accountability Project, and more than two dozen other organizations.