ORIN KERR: Not Exactly an “Outside” Committee to Review NSA Surveillance Programs. “Morrell retired just two weeks ago from the CIA, where he was Deputy Director and Acting Director. Sunstein served in the Obama Administration as head of OIRA, leaving the Administration one year ago. Swire served as a Special Assistant to President Obama for the first two years of the first Obama Term. To be fair, Richard Clarke’s government experience predates the Obama Administration; he endorsed Obama for his excellent judgment on national security issues, but Clarke did not actually work for him. But in my experience working on some similar issues as he did in the government, Clarke had a reputation for seeing everything as an extraordinarily grave national security threat. I would think Clarke is likely to bring in a pro-government perspective on the issues here.” There’s a shock.