President’s Intel Advisory Board Members All Resigned
Secrecy News previously criticized the White House web site for failing, among other things, to provide a current roster of members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. (“White House Web Site Off to a Slow Start,” Secrecy News, March 9.)
But it turns out that there are no current members, since the entire membership of the Board resigned at the end of the previous Administration.
A White House official told Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report that the previous members resigned by mutual agreement during the presidential transition and that the Board is now vacant.
“It will not be a matter of months” until new PIAB members are appointed but “maybe a matter of weeks,” Iraq Oil Report quoted the official. See “Texas oilman Ray Hunt is no longer serving as a presidential adviser on intelligence issues,” Iraq Oil Report, March 17 (at bottom of page).
There is no question this is a Big Deal. If you are a university or research lab, or aspire to work in one, or are simply an enthusiast of federally-funded research, what’s next will matter.
The emerging federal metascience community is asking fascinating questions that are equally vital for democratic legitimacy: beyond “did this program work” to “how does the federal R&D enterprise itself work, and how could it work better?”
If you’re new to the climate intervention space, welcome! The TL;DR: if we can’t stop the most catastrophic impacts of climate change with current tools quickly enough, then we need a bigger toolbox.
After months of delay, the council tasked by President Trump to review the FEMA released its final report. Our disaster policy nerds have thoughts.