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Review of surveillance programs is biased, critics say

Panel depends on NSA resources to complete its job

WASHINGTON — Five men with high-level security clearances and ties to President Obama will soon deliver a report that’s likely to reshape US government surveillance.

The group, which is scrutinizing the data harvesting by the National Security Agency, relies on the government’s spy office — the very people it’s supposed to be examining — for its staff and logistics. While that may be the safest way to handle sensitive materials, it also limits contrarian viewpoints, say people alarmed by the surveillance.

‘‘This is a panel of administration insiders and therefore lacks credibility as a panel of independent reviewers,’’ said Sascha Meinrath, at the New America Foundation, who participated in a Sept. 9 meeting with the review group.

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Credibility is vital because recommendations by the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications, if adopted by Obama, could have consequences for Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple, among other technology companies.

Companies are facing the loss of billions of dollars in overseas business, stricter regulations and trade barriers, and erosion of consumer trust amid revelations the NSA hacked into private networks to spy on foreigners and Americans. Private companies also have been compelled to share data while being barred from disclosing details to their customers.

European allies, with whom Obama’s negotiating a trade pact, have reacted with concern that the NSA’s work reached beyond tracking terrorists and into commerce and trade.

The panel was created in August in response to an international furor after leaks from former government contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed the extent of NSA programs.

Technologists and civil libertarians have urged the panel to determine to what extent the NSA is seeking to subvert encryption technology to conduct its surveillance, and whether the NSA is placing operatives inside companies.