The White House called the members a ‘distinguished and trusted group of Patriots.’
President Donald Trump announced Feb. 12 a list of individuals to serve on his President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB).
The members are “a distinguished and trusted group of Patriots” who will advise the president on issues in governing national security and other intelligence community (IC) work, according to the announcement released by the White House.
Trump chose the appointees to the group because of their range of experience, according to the statement. The White House said it hopes the board will “help restore integrity to our Intelligence Community.”
The committee members include former California congressman Devin Nunes, who will serve as the group’s chair. Other members include Scott Glabe, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, Brad Robert Wenstrup, Wayne Berman, Reince Priebus, Robert O’Brien, Joshua Lobel, Sander R. Gerber, Katie Miller, Jeremy Katz, and Thomas Ollis Hicks, Jr.
What the Board Does
The federal government’s intelligence services website outlines the broad purpose of the PIAB, saying that it exists “exclusively to provide the president with an independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the IC is meeting the nation’s intelligence needs.”
While the PIAB is an element of the executive office, it’s made up of citizens from outside of the government and has access to all the information needed for advising the president on intelligence issues. The board can be made up of up to 16 members. Trump’s board has 12 members.
Another component of the board is its Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), which was created to make recommendations to the president for oversight of U.S. intelligence activities. This is specifically for the purpose of ensuring that agencies within the intelligence community adhere to Constitutional guidelines and other applicable laws, and presidential directives.
The board reports to the president on an as-needed basis but not less than twice per year.
According to the White House website, the IOB “complements and supplements, rather than duplicates the oversight roles of the Director of National Intelligence, Department and Agency Inspectors General and General Counsels, and the Congressional Oversight Committees.”
Board Leadership
Nunes resigned from Congress in 2021 and became heavily involved in Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, where he currently serves as the chief executive officer.
The former lawmaker’s upcoming position was announced in December of last year, along with the news that he would maintain his position as the CEO of Truth Social.
Prior to leaving the House of Representatives, Nunes at one time served as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee for most of 2015-2018.
During his time in Congress, Nunes expressed concern that the FBI conspired against Trump while investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“Devin will draw on his experience as former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his key role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, to provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s activities,” Trump wrote at the time of his December announcement.
PIAB History
The PIAB has been around for more than 60 years, created by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, at the time called The President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities.
Eisenhower created the group after discovering that he needed a group of respected colleagues to give him “unfettered and candid appraisals of U.S. intelligence activities.”
The group was renamed by President John F. Kennedy to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) in 1961, and has been operational for every president since that time, except for the late President Jimmy Carter, who did away with the board in 1977.
The distinguished group was re-instituted in 1981 by former President Ronald Reagan. It was renamed once again in 2008 by former President George W. Bush, and called the name it has today, the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Bush chose the name in hopes of conveying that national intelligence is an international issue, and one that the board is tasked with keeping a close eye on.
The PIAB’s history has enjoyed a special status that has been well guarded by the executive branch for the entirety of its history. This is achieved by a fierce effort by those involved to adhere to strict confidentiality in both its meetings and all communications and advice.
According to the White House website, the board “has had immense and long-lasting impacts on the structure, management, and operations of U.S. intelligence.”
“The PIAB exists exclusively to assist the President by providing him with an independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the Intelligence Community is meeting the Nation’s intelligence needs, and the vigor and insight with which the community plans for the future,” it reads.
The IOB was added to the mix in 1976 under former President Gerald Ford, upon the recommendation of the Rockefeller Commission. The group called for an executive body at the presidential level to conduct oversight into the “legality and propriety of U.S. intelligence activities.”
Since then, the IOB has worked to review the activities of groups and individuals within the intelligence community and advise the president on what those activities are, and whether they could violate a law or executive order.
According to the official background of the IOB, part of its function is to advise the president if issues are being addressed appropriately by the attorney general, the director of national intelligence, or the heads of any department or agency that could need presidential direction.
Reuters contributed to this report.