Page 12 - Financial Report 2020

PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

Vision, Mission, and Core Values

VISION

A nation that counters terrorism while safeguarding privacy and civil liberties.

MISSION

The Board’s mission is to ensure that the executive branch’s efforts to prevent terrorism
are balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties. Specifically, the Board’s
enabling statute, 42 U.S.C. § 2000ee, authorizes it to “analyze and review actions the
executive branch takes to protect the Nation from terrorism, ensuring that the need for
such actions is balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties,” and to
“ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and
implementation of laws, regulations, and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation
from terrorism.”
The Board’s mission encompasses two core functions: providing advice and conducting
oversight.

Advice - Executive branch agencies can consult with the Board at an early stage in the
development of legislation, policies, programs, guidelines, or regulations to ensure
privacy and civil liberties protections are appropriately considered in their design.

Oversight - The Board is charged with continually reviewing (1) regulations, policies,
procedures, and practices within the Board’s jurisdiction to ensure that privacy and civil
liberties are protected, and (2) other actions within the Board’s jurisdiction to ensure
that those actions appropriately protect privacy and civil liberties and are consistent
with governing laws, regulations, and policies regarding privacy and civil liberties.

CORE VALUES

Three key values guide the Board’s work:

Integrity – As an agency whose power lies in its persuasiveness, the Board regards the
preservation of its integrity and credibility as paramount. The Board approaches its
activities with objectivity and good faith. The Board strives to treat executive branch
agencies and other outside parties with evenhandedness and respect, and to evaluate a
wide range of data, viewpoints, and considerations.

FY 2020 AGENCY FINANCIAL REPORT 2