[spammyusername]

You can't even get the most basic information correct. It's hard to take anything you say seriously.

Formed in 2004, first meeting in March 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_and_Civil_Liberties_Ove...).

My point is that the government cannot be expected to competently judge itself. That is our task as citizens, if you want to use those reports as the basis of your ill-informed opinion, go ahead.

[csandreasen]

... and you can't seem to follow through with your research - if you read past the first paragraph, you'll see that the 2004 PCLOB was completely disbanded by Congress and replaced with an entirely separate organization whose members were approved by Congress rather than appointed solely by the President. A cursory glance at their own website would tell you the same in more detail. Ironically, that was entire point I was making - people shouldn't assume take the first document they read on a given subject (or in this case, the first paragraph of the first document they read) and assume it's the complete story.

You'll note that I even "Draw what conclusion you may want from those numbers" in my original post. I offered those three reports because out of everything I've read on the subject, those were the most comprehensive. So far, you've offered a whole lot of ad hominem, a Wikipedia link and an argument that boils down to "it's a government agency, therefore corrupt and inept". If you're going to make a point, try backing it up with an actual argument and ditching the insults.