Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board Cleaned Out Ahead of NSA Scandal

Panel Only Has Four Members Left

The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) has a history dating back to the Eisenhower Administration, and has for that time provided key advice to presidents time and again. With President Obama embroiled in a huge scandal with the NSA, one would think the board would be right in the thick of things.

Except not so much. In the months leading up to the scandals, President Obama has slashed the panel’s membership to virtually nothing. Usually a panel of 14-16 people, and 14 even last year, the PIAB now stands at just four members.

“They kicked me off,” noted former Congressman Lee Hamilton, who had served on the panel under Bush and Obama, and who says he has no idea why he was asked to resign.

He’s one of 10 members who were recently “asked” to resign from the PIAB, since May, the same time Edward Snowden’s leaks started going public. Just when the administration seemingly needed them the most, the president had cleaned house on advisors and left the panel to rot on the vine.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.