CNAS Event on "Surveillance Policy: A Pragmatic Agenda for 2017 and Beyond"

On Monday, December 12th, the Center for a New American Security will be hosting an event of interest to Lawfare readers on "Surveillance Policy: A Pragmatic Agenda for 2017 and Beyond." The event will feature the presentation of a new CNAS report on the future of surveillance policy along with a panel discussion on the topic. Interested readers should RSVP here. Further information is below.

Surveillance Policy:
A Pragmatic Agenda for 2017 and Beyond

Featuring a Discussion at Google DC, with:

Jennifer Daskal
Associate Professor, American University Washington College of Law

Richard Fontaine
President, Center for a New American Security

Stephanie Martz
Director, Reform Government Surveillance Coalition

Benjamin Powell
Partner, WilmerHale
Former General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Moderated by:
Ellen Nakashima
National Security Reporter, The Washington Post

And Presentation of a New CNAS Report on the Future of Surveillance Policy by:
Michèle Flournoy, CEO, Center for a New American Security

Adam Klein, Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security

The panel will discuss the key surveillance-policy issues facing the incoming administration and the CNAS report’s concrete, actionable recommendations for addressing them.

Coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

LOCATION:
Google - Washington DC Office
25 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Suite 900
Washington, DC 20001

DATE AND TIME:
December 12, 2016
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

About the Event

With ever more human activity taking place on electronic networks, electronic surveillance is an essential tool for combating the array of complex threats facing the nation. At the same time, the powerful capabilities available to the intelligence community and law enforcement and the secrecy that necessarily envelops them raise inevitable and important questions for individual privacy, the rule of law, and public accountability.

In late 2014, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) began a two-year initiative aimed at developing a new approach to surveillance policy for the next administration. On December 12, CNAS will release a comprehensive report on the future of surveillance policy, including 61 recommendations for the next administration and Congress. The report’s pragmatic approach enhances privacy, protects the competitiveness of the U.S. technology industry, and addresses the international consequences of surveillance programs, without sacrificing capabilities needed for foreign intelligence, counterterrorism, or law enforcement. The report addresses a wide range of topics, including encryption, risk management in signals intelligence, Section 702, diplomatic initiatives related to electronic surveillance, and standards for law-enforcement access to user data.

Two of the report’s co-authors, Michèle Flournoy, Chief Executive Officer of CNAS, and Adam Klein, Senior Fellow at CNAS, will provide a short briefing on CNAS’s work on surveillance policy and on the report’s main findings.

This presentation will be followed by a moderated panel on key issues in surveillance policy facing the incoming administration and Congress. Questions to be discussed include: How should the new administration approach the reauthorization of Section 702? Should the new administration press for decryption legislation or seek to de-escalate the encryption controversy? How can the new administration address enduring transatlantic fissures over surveillance policy, particularly in light of pending judicial challenges to the new Privacy Shield agreement? How can surveillance decisions better account for outside equities, including cybersecurity and the technology industry’s international competitiveness?

RSVP