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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: April 2005

March 2005

• Statement of Charges Against Samuel R. Berger in DC District Court, March 31. "Berger knowingly removed classified documents from the National Archives and Records Administration...."
• NASA to Prepare Environmental Impact Statement for Space Nuclear Reactors, Federal Register, March 30. "NASA, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), intends to prepare a PEIS for the research and development activities associated with space nuclear fission reactors for electric power production in potential future NASA missions."
• Ask This: The WMD Commission and intelligence reform by Steven Aftergood, Nieman Watchdog, March 28. "A new commission report on the failures of U.S. intelligence should raise questions about government accountability and the feasibility of intelligence reform, writes Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists."
• Clarification of "Deemed Export" Regulatory Requirements, Dept of Commerce Federal Register notice, March 28. "BIS is seeking comments on how these revisions would affect industry, the academic community, and U.S. government agencies involved in research."
• U.S. Congress Extends Effort to Open Secret WWII War Crimes Records, NARA news release, March 28. "The effort of the interagency working group tasked with identifying and declassifying records relating to Nazi and Japanese Imperial Government war crimes has been extended to enable it to complete the work of opening CIA records. On March 25, President George W. Bush signed into law legislation that pushes back the group’s sunset date to March 2007."
• HHS Final Rule on Possession, Use, and Transfer of Biological Agents and Toxins, Federal Register, March 18.
• USDA Final Rule on Possession, Use, and Transfer of Biological Agents and Toxins, Federal Register, March 18.
• The Age of Missing Information by Steven Aftergood, Slate, March 17. "Information is the oxygen of democracy. Day by day, the Bush administration is cutting off the supply."
• Slate's Best Policy: Classifying Once-Open Fed Documents with Alex Chadwick, NPR Day to Day, March 17. "Why are some government agencies now keeping once-public documents under wraps? NPR's Alex Chadwick speaks with Slate contributor Steven Aftergood about U.S. government efforts to "classify" documents that had previously been accessible to the public."
• Forged DIA Cable Portrays William Arkin as Iraqi Agent, letter from William M. Arkin to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, March 17. "I am extremely concerned that someone familiar with Defense Department classified reporting has forged this document and given it to the press in the hope that it would be reported as genuine."
• CIA's Seizure of Documents Raises Questions by Martin Kaste, NPR Morning Edition, March 15. "The CIA's recent 'document sweep' of papers in an archive at the University of Washington raises issues of access to old classified documents that have been open to historians for 20 years."
• Launch schedule off Web by Janene Scully, Santa Maria Times, March 13. "Citing security concerns, the Air Force has yanked its unclassified launch schedule from a Web site, a move that baffles secrecy opponents and some space hobbyists alike."
• AP Review: Gov't Reducing Access to Info by Martha Mendoza, Associated Press, March 13. "Since 1998, many federal departments have been reducing the amount of information they release to the public - even as the government fields and answers more requests for information than ever, an Associated Press review has found."
• Across U.S., Citizens Fight for Records by Robert Tanner, Associated Press, March 12. "While the Freedom of Information Act is often associated with journalists and government watchdog groups, private citizens actually use it far more frequently."
• White House Says Government Funds May be Legally Used for "Video News Releases", White House Office of Management and Budget memo, March 11. "Our view is that the prohibition [against propaganda] does not apply where there is no advocacy of a particular viewpoint, and therefore it does not apply to the legitimate provision of infomation concerning the programs administered by an agency."
• What a blast! 1962 nuclear test still shaking things up, half a world away by Mike M. Ahlers, CNN.com, March 11. "The Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires in Khartoum and demanded an explanation about the supposedly secret nuclear tests in the east African country."
• U.S. official secrets multiplying at fast pace by Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service, March 10. "Federal agencies are drawing protests from news organizations by removing previously public documents from their Web sites and creating new national security secrets at an accelerating pace."
• Reform Post-9/11 Handling of “Sensitive” Information, Says UM Study, Univ of Maryland news release, March 10. "U.S. government efforts to keep sensitive but unclassified materials out of the hands of terrorists have led to tangled regulations that too often bottle up needed information without providing adequate security, says a new report from the University of Maryland."
• Demand for Public Information Is Surging by Chuck McCutcheon, Newhouse News Service, March 8. "At a time when critics accuse the federal government of excessive secrecy, the public's appetite for information is growing by leaps and bounds."
• Dept of Energy Grants Partial Release of Highly Enriched Uranium Report, Office of Hearings and Appeals decision, March 7. "A significant amount of the withheld factual information contained in the Report could be released without revealing the location or quantities of fissile materials... [DOE] cannot continue to withhold this information under the cited reasoning."

Older News: February 2005

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