Chairman of oversight board tapped by Obama says group concerned about NSA surveillance

[steve2470]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/obama-relying-on-untested-oversight-board-to-wade-into-nsa-surveillance-controversy/2013/06/19/f5366704-d8b0-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the federal oversight board that President Barack Obama said will meet with him to discuss the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program said Wednesday that the group has numerous concerns about the operation and plans to publish a report after a full inquiry.

David Medine, who heads the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, told The Associated Press that board members have a “broad range of questions” about the NSA’s widespread collection of Americans’ phone and Internet data. Medine, who spoke following a closed-door meeting of the group, did not detail the board’s concerns.

Medine said the group was given a classified briefing June 11 about the secret data collection programs by senior officials of the NSA, FBI, Justice Department and the national intelligence director’s office. Medine declined to identify the officials who attended the briefings.

“Based on what we’ve learned so far, further questions are warranted,” he said.