Secrecy and Security News, February 2004

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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: March 2004

February 2004

FBI FOIA Staffer Sentenced to Prison, Justice Department news release, February 26. "Narissa Smalls, a legal technician in FBI Headquarters, was sentenced to 12 months in prison today on charges stemming from her unlawful access of the FBI's Automated Case Support (ACS) computer system."

Procedures for Handling Critical Infrastructure Information, Department of Homeland Security, Interim Rule, Federal Register, February 20. "The protection of critical infrastructure reduces the vulnerability of the United States to acts of terrorism. The purpose of this regulation is to encourage private sector entities to share information pertaining to their particular and unique vulnerabilities, as well as those that may be systemic and sector-wide."

Procedures for Sensitive Homeland Security Information Not Finalized, letter from Department of Homeland Security, February 18. "The Department of Homeland Security is currently working to develop procedures for the sharing of sensitive homeland security information. At this time, however, these procedures have not been finalized."

Indefensible Secrecy, Washington Post (editorial), February 17 (free registration required). "By resisting disclosure of the intelligence budget total, the CIA only highlights a classification system out of control."

FERC Solicits Comment on Critical Energy Infrastructure Information, February 13. Commission seeks "balance between the due process rights of interested persons to participate fully in its proceedings and its responsibility to protect public safety by ensuring that access to CEII does not facilitate acts of terrorism."

President Eisenhower Designated Private Citizens to Take Control of the Government in the Event of a Nuclear Attack on the United States, CONELRAD news release, February 9. "In 1958 and 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed private citizens as 'emergency designees' in the event of an atomic attack on the U.S. or any other disaster that would have incapacitated senior government leaders."

Army backs down on classified data threat by Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, February 5. "The U.S. Army has apologized for threatening to prosecute an open-government advocacy group after it republished a document copied from a military Web site."

TSA Asks Media to Expunge Public Testimony on Airport Security Problems by Jeff Stein, CQ Homeland Security, February 4. "The Transportation Security Administration Monday requested that two pages of public, unclassified congressional testimony on airport security from a hearing last November be expunged from media archives."

Army Officials Up in Arms Over FAS Web Site, email correspondence, February 4. "Publications on this website are distribution restricted and not for general public access."

Ruling The Weather Front by William Weir, Hartford Courant, February 4. "New technologies have invigorated the once sleepy field of weather modification."

Camera Phones a National Security Threat? by Chuck McCutcheon, Newhouse News, February 3. "First it was locker rooms, then corporations and courthouses. Now cell phones featuring digital cameras are being officially banned from some military sites."

Data Sought for Secret Spending by Richard Benedetto, USA Today, February 3. "After a dubious conclusion that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction just before the war in Iraq, critics say there should be more financial accountability for the government's spying."

Unclassified part of Wen Ho Lee report due for release by Richard Benke, Associated Press, February 2. "Unclassified portions of a never-released Justice Department report on the investigation and prosecution of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee will be given to a government secrecy watchdog."

Older News: January 2004

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