Secrecy and Security News, December 2003

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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: January 2004

December 2003

Department of Defense Mandatory Declassification Review Addresses, Federal Register, December 29. "This notice provides Department of Defense addresses to which Mandatory Declassification Review requests may be sent."

Top Ten Government Secrecy Moments, On the Media, December 26. "Brooke Gladstone speaks with Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists� Secrecy Project."

Under Bush, Expanding Secrecy by Dana Milbank, Washington Post, December 23. "The Bush administration has been unusually successful keeping its policy deliberations out of public view, and millions of government documents -- including many historical records previously available -- have been removed from the public domain."

Public Access to Congressional Research Service Products, internal CRS memo on publication policy. "Many of you have seen references in the media and may have received questions regarding public access to CRS products... What follows describes the new system and outlines some of the issues surrounding the debate over public access to our work."

DTRA Reply to FOIA Appeal for Denied Anthrax Document, December 19. "We are in the process of reviewing the appealed document."

Pentagon IG Sets New Policy On Web Information by John M. Donnelly, Defense Week Daily Update, December 18. "The Pentagon Office of the Inspector General has issued a new policy that prohibits posting on its Web site broadly defined categories of data."

White House Web Scrubbing by Dana Milbank, Washington Post, December 18. "It's not quite Soviet-style airbrushing, but the Bush administration has been using cyberspace to make some of its own cosmetic touch-ups to history."

Secret Service airbrushes aerial photos by Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus.com, December 17. "Call it the case of the missing White House. Users of Mapquest's free aerial photo database recently noticed that details of several Washington D.C. government buildings were no longer discernable in overhead images of the U.S. capital."

Anonymous Paper Raises Fears About Future of Naval Research Lab by Malina Brown, Inside the Navy, December 15. "A recent, widely circulated report by an anonymous author raises concerns about a Navy decision to transfer some authority of the world-renowned Naval Research Lab away from its civilian leadership."

Justice Dept Statement on Supreme Court Grant of Certiorari in VP Energy Task Force Case, news release, December 15. "To allow further discovery into the advice provided by the President�s closest advisers would upset the ability of the President and Vice President to effectively develop strong national policy."

Appeal of DTRA Denial of Unclassified Anthrax Study, FAS FOIA Appeal, December 12. "The Attorney General does not have the authority to override the FOIA, or to legislate new restrictions on public distribution of information."

DTRA Denies Release of Unclassified Anthrax Lesson Learned Study, Defense Threat Reduction Agency FOIA denial letter, December 12. "This document falls under the guidance of the US Attorney General memorandum dated October 12, 2001, that restricts the public distribution of information related to homeland security and protection of critical infrastructure."

Ney Draws Line at Public Access to Research by Paul M. Krawzak, Copley News Service, December 12. "Year after year, the Congressional Research Service produces thousands of exclusive, coveted reports and analyses that help lawmakers make sense of complex issues and legislation. Yet taxpayers, who finance the service to the tune of $80 million a year, have no guaranteed access to the publications."

NSA can summarily reject requests for information by Ariel Sabar, Baltimore Sun, December 11. "The National Security Agency has won the authority to automatically turn down requests by citizens for records on how the spy agency eavesdrops on foreign countries."

Scientists: Government overzealous in pursuit of researcher by Betsy Blaney, Associated Press, December 2. "Thomas C. Butler, the Texas Tech University researcher acquitted of most of the serious charges he faced after reporting plague samples missing from his laboratory was a victim of an overzealous prosecution, several scientists said Tuesday."

DoD Announces Detainee Allowed Access to Lawyer, Pentagon press release, December 2. "The Department of Defense announced today that Yaser Esam Hamdi, an enemy combatant detained at the Charleston Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, S.C., will be allowed access to a lawyer subject to appropriate security restrictions."

Limited Progress Seen in Sharing Threat Information by Brian Krebs, WashingtonPost.com, December 2. "The Bush administration has failed to improve how federal agencies and law enforcement officials share information in the war against terrorism, leaving the government in danger of missing key clues about future attacks, according to a report issued today by a panel of national security and technology experts."

Older News: November 2003

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