Intel privacy board chief resigns

The leader of an independent government board designed to serve as a check on the intelligence community submitted his resignation to the White House on March 29.

David Medine, chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, will leave on July 1 of this year. His term was set to expire in January 2018.

"During my tenure and thanks to the support of the president and Congress, the board has been able to carry out its timely mission of conducting oversight and providing advice to ensure that federal counterterrorism efforts properly balance national security with privacy and civil liberties," Medine said in a statement.

He is leaving to join a development organization that works on data privacy and consumer protection for lower-income financial consumers overseas.

"David has served our nation as PCLOB chairman during an especially momentous period, coinciding with a concerted examination of our national security tools and policies to ensure they are consistent with my administration's commitment to civil liberties and individual privacy," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "Under David's leadership, the PCLOB's thoughtful analysis and considered input [have] consistently informed my decision-making and that of my team, and our country is better off because of it."

The bipartisan five-member group is perhaps best known for a 2014 report that recommended ending the bulk collection of the phone records of U.S. citizens. A year later, Congress passed legislation eliminating the program, which had been authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

In February, the board announced it had appointed Columbia University Professor Steven Bellovin to be the group's first technology scholar.