Beth Williams, a member of the US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, had to walk a political tightrope during her address at the State of the Net conference in Washington on Tuesday. She has the distinction of being the only member of the bipartisan PCLOB to survive mass federal government layoffs under US President Donald Trump.
Ms Williams, a Republican, has remained working for the board, while three of her colleagues – Democrats Travis LeBlanc, Edward Felten and Sharon Bradford Franklin – were given the option of resigning or being fired by the Trump administration.
They did not resign and were fired as a result, leaving only Ms Williams to run the independent government agency within the executive branch that is responsible for ensuring that civil liberties and privacy rights are protected amid the US pursuit of national security.
“I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on the President's personnel decisions,” she said, when asked by an audience member if the recent layoffs would affect the oversight board's ability to be independent and effective going forward. “What I'm focused on is our ability to continue to operate moving forward.”
She also pointed out that the PCLOB had enacted a new policy that allowed it to operate when staffing of the board was at a sub-quorum level.
“We are open for business,” she told the packed auditorium of the 21st State of the Net technology conference in Washington.
“Our work conducting important, independent oversight of the intelligence community has not ended just because we are currently sub-quorum. In fact, the board has been sub-quorum several times before.”
Ms Williams did acknowledge that with the current staffing situation, the board could not act at its fullest capacity.
“We can't officially open new projects, but that doesn't mean we can't lay the groundwork for them,” she said.
The PCLOB is hardly alone amid the series of layoffs decreed through executive orders and other actions that have jolted federal agencies and departments, prompting lawsuits, protests, and the interruption of services both domestically and internationally.
Some of the actions have taken place under the guise of government efficiency, while others have had more of a partisan tilt, aimed at stacking organisations with people who are more likely to be loyal to President Donald Trump.
In a statement to The New York Times, Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden expressed concern about the Trump administration firing much of PCLOB's board, and stated that Mr Trump was “kneecapping one of the only independent watchdogs over government surveillance who could alert Congress and the public about surveillance abuses by his administration”.
During her speech at State of the Net, Ms Williams spoke about PCLOB's continuing efforts to investigate agencies that, she said, had potentially been censoring free speech by broadly classifying certain things as domestic terrorism, which falls within the civil liberties jurisdiction of the board.
She also said that PCLOB would continue to look into the possible ramifications of facial recognition technology being used at US airports, among other projects that were already under way before the recent exodus of board members.
“We have a number of other timely issues that the board should investigate,” she said.
“There are worrisome allegations that the government may have used its counterterrorism authorities to pressure financial institutions into cutting off customers. People are concerned about these stories. This is exactly the type of investigation the board can and should consider.”
The State of the Net conference and organisation bills itself as policy and partisan agnostic, while also describing itself as a premier internet policy education group in the US.
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Markey and Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn also delivered addresses at the conference.
