Shadowy Watchlisting Council Has Control Over Your Legal Rights — And It Does Not Really Exist
By Janet PhelanBy all commonly accepted standards, the Watchlisting Advisory Council (WLAC) does not exist. It has no physical offices, no employees and was not established under any discernible legal authority. Yet this Council, which meets quarterly to advise the National Security Council, has the power to decide if you have legal rights or not.
Disclosures in recent legal cases resulted in the emergence from the shadows of the WLAC. It has been determined, through legal depositions of FBI employees conducted by the Muslim civil rights organization, CAIR, that the following agencies have a representative on the WLAC: the FBI, TSA, CBP, the NCTC and the Department of Homeland Security. According to the government lawyer, Amy Powell, representing FBI Special Agent Matthew DeSarno during his CAIR deposition, the “law enforcement privilege and state secrets privilege” prohibited DeSarno from revealing if the State Department and the CIA were represented on the WLAC.
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