Wondering About the Legality of U.S. Overseas Spying? Tune Into Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Hearing

For those readers who are interested in the legal aspects of the U.S. government’s wide-ranging overseas intelligence gathering program, C-Span 2 will be broadcasting portions of today’s oversight hearing of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.  The PCLOB is a federal watchdog agency charged with reviewing the U.S. government’s intelligence efforts in light of privacy and civil liberties concerns (a preview of witness testimony can be found here).  Lawyers from the key federal agencies (FBI, CIA, NSA), as well as legal scholars and NGOs will be participating.  I will be speaking on the second panel focusing on constitutional and statutory issues related to Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which creates procedures for limiting the targeting of U.S. citizens overseas’ communications. (Spoiler Alert: I’m pretty OK with the constitutionality of U.S. overseas electronic surveillance).  In the afternoon, friends of the blog like Eric Posner and John Bellinger will be discussing international aspects of these programs. Should be interesting.