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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: July 2004

June 2004

• Ashcroft faces whistleblower secrets probe by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, June 27. "The federal government's secrecy watchdog is conducting an inquiry into whether Attorney General John Ashcroft acted properly in classifying information relating to a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower from the FBI's translation unit."
• Highway bill's secrecy rules spark public-safety debate by James Bruggers, Louisville Courier-Journal, June 27. "Deep inside a voluminous highway-spending bill before Congress are two sentences that would allow the federal government to seal information now available to the public."
• Justice Dept Statement Regarding the Supreme Court Ruling on the Vice President's Energy Task Force, DoJ news release, June 24. �The Justice Department is pleased the Supreme Court recognized the necessity of protecting the White House from vexatious lawsuits and intrusive discovery requests."
• Senator Grassley Comments on Government Reclassification of Information about FBI Problems, news release, June 23. "It's ludicrous to classify information that's been in the public domain for two years."
• Too Many Secrets, Says the Secrecy Czar by Jack Shafer, Slate, June 23. "In a little-noticed mid-June speech, secrecy czar J. William Leonard fretted over signs of a breakdown of the classification system for national security."
• DoD Provides Details on Interrogation Process, Pentagon press release, June 22. "The Department of Defense today released documents related to the development of interrogation procedures at Guantanamo. These documents are made available to demonstrate that the actions of the U. S. Defense Department are bound by law and guided by American values."
• Taguba Report Release Questions by Eric Umansky, ericumansky.com, June 22. "I wonder whether the Army will really release the whole report and or what sections will be redacted."
• The classification system's 'advanced stage of decadence' by Eric Umansky, ericumansky.com, June 15. "Over-classification eventually reaches a tipping point, he says, where even people involved in the process no longer think it's just or fair and act accordingly."
• On FOIA Front, More Agencies Contract Out by Christopher Lee, Washington Post, June 8 (free reg. req'd). "Steven Aftergood has waited so long for federal officials to answer his requests for public information that, he says jokingly, he may be in his grave before some of the documents land on his desk."
• Tenet Leaves Legacy of Big Successes, but Also Big Failures by R. Jeffrey Smith and Walter Pincus, Washington Post, June 4. "The entire national foreign intelligence budget, which Tenet divulged in 1998 was $26.7 billion, has evidently grown to about $40 billion since then, said Steven Aftergood, an analyst at the Federation of American Scientists."
• Bye, George: It's Been a Bad Week for the Bushies by Fred Kaplan, Slate, June 3. "...If the stories are true, Chalabi could be charged with espionage, a crime that carries a sentence of life in prison or--under certain circumstances--the death penalty."
• Media Vows to Pry Open Closed Doors in Washington by Joe Strupp, Editor and Publisher, June 3. "Press efforts to thwart government secrecy are moving forward on two fronts as Washington bureau chiefs unite to more aggressively cover federal government attempts to hide information and the head of Associated Press offers plans for a new open government lobbying center in Washington, D.C."

Older News: May 2004

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