Nominees for privacy board await action

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a list of Democrats that he wants to be considered for a federal panel charged with examining privacy and civil liberties issues to the White House more than a month ago, but the Bush administration has not responded, according to a leadership aide. Reid's candidates' names remain private.

The president nominated three individuals to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in February, a month after the terms of its original members expired. If confirmed by the Senate, Homeland Security Department civil liberties officer Daniel Sutherland would chair the five-member group. George Mason University law professor Ronald Rotunda and General Electric Chief Security Officer Francis Taylor were Bush's other picks. Rotunda said today that he had not been advised of a timetable for confirmation hearings.

The board was established in 2004 by the executive office of the president at the behest of the 9/11 Commission, and was reconstituted in 2007 as an independent agency amid concerns over its autonomy.