The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is setting up a new intelligence advisory board just weeks after it was forced to shut down a similar group due to concerns of political bias among its members.
The DHS announced the creation of the Homeland Intelligence Advisory Board on Friday. The board will comprise up to 40 members appointed by the Under Secretary of DHS. The new board could include 19 members from the controversial Homeland Intelligence Experts Group, which the agency had committed to shut down earlier this month. The Board plans to meet at least once every quarter and will be used as a source of ideas as well as a “critical assessment of our intelligence activities,” the DHS said.
“The Board will provide information and advice to the Under Secretary and the DHS Counterterrorism Coordinator on homeland intelligence activities and issues, including those around operational adherence to the principles of privacy and civil liberties.”
The Experts Group was set up by the DHS in September last year for stated purposes of offering advice on national security and intelligence. However, legal advocacy America First Legal (AFL) sued the DHS and Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, arguing that the group violated provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
Section 5 of FACA requires that an advisory committee be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view.” It also mandates there be provisions to ensure that “the advice and recommendations of the advisory committee will not be inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or by any special interest.”
The lawsuit noted that the members of the Experts Group were “political allies of the Biden Administration. Most members have applauded the Administration’s decisions and fervidly condemned former President Trump’s America First approach to foreign policy.”
Hellbound and Down 