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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: April 2006

March 2006

• First Amendment Issues Raised About Espionage Act by Walter Pincus, Washington Post, March 31. "The federal judge overseeing prosecution of two former lobbyists charged with receiving and transmitting national defense information under the 1917 Espionage Act has given the government until today to respond to defense claims that the statute is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and may violate the First Amendment."
• Rep. Buyer Urges Security Clearances for Members on Intelligence, Defense Approps Committees, news release, March 30. "Members serving on two of the most sensitive committees in the U.S. Congress would be required to obtain a security clearance under legislation introduced today by Congressman Steve Buyer (R-IN)."
• NARA Final Rule on Declassification of National Security Information, Federal Register, March 24. "This rule updates NARA's regulations related to declassification of classified national security information in records transferred to NARA's legal custody."
• DHS Workshop on Transparency and Accountability, Federal Register, March 24. The Department of Homeland Security Privacy Office will host a public workshop, "Transparency and Accountability: The Use of Personal Information within the Government," to explore the concept of public notices and freedom of information frameworks.
• DHS: Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, Federal Register, March 24. "In order to facilitate an effective defense of our Nation's critical infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security is creating the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council."
• NRC: Requirements for the Protection of Certain Safeguards Information, Federal Register, March 24. "Information and material that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determines are Safeguards Information must be protected from unauthorized disclosure."
• New Reports Raise Questions About Secrecy Stamps by Rebecca Carr, Cox News, March 19. "The Defense Department's telephone directory was freely sold in government bookstores until four years ago when federal officials marked it 'For Official Use Only,' deeming the information too sensitive for public consumption."
• Secrecy Under Scrutiny by David E. Kaplan, U.S. News and World Report, March 20. "At a time of increasingly frequent battles over access to government records, U.S. News sat down with Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, to discuss his relentless push for greater freedom of information."
• Spies Like Us by Fred Kaplan, Slate, March 17. "If a recent ruling by a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., is accepted as the word of law, every national-security journalist and researcher in America stands in danger of going to prison. This is not an exaggeration."
• U.S. Reveals Once-Secret Files From Hussein Regime by Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, March 17. "The Bush administration took the unusual step Thursday of releasing documents seized from Saddam Hussein's government during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, giving the public access to previously secret files that Republicans hope will shore up support for the war."
• Burr to revive biomedical bill by Mary M. Shaffrey, Winston-Salem Journal, March 17. "Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., wants a second shot at convincing Congress of the need for a new federal agency with oversight of biomedical research. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, or BARDA, would still be partially exempted from the Freedom of Information Act, Burr said yesterday."
• FAA yanks potentially 'sensitive' information from Web site by Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service, March 15. "In another sign of increasing government secrecy, the Federal Aviation Administration has removed from its Web site the transcript of a heated public hearing during which pilots ridiculed no-fly zones that have surrounded Washington since 9/11."
• A Gitmo for Journos: Who besides the New York Times could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act? by Jack Shafer, Slate, March 14. "National-security reporters can't cover the beat without encountering information that brings them crashing into Section 798."
• DoD Wants Lid on IED Leaks by Jason Sherman, InsideDefense.com, March 14. "The Defense Department is teeing up a new policy that aims to limit the disclosure of information about roadside bombs -- including military defenses and vulnerabilities -- in order to 'deny enemies easy access to critical intelligence,' according to a draft of the policy."
• Government moves to reclassify documents by Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service, March 13. "The disappearing documents at the National Archives are just part of a pattern of activities across the U.S. government in recent years."
• Bush's secrecy push is excessive, critics say by David Westphal, Sacramento Bee, March 12. "Open-government advocates say the massive reclassification project carried out by the CIA and other agencies is more evidence for their assertion that this is one of the most secretive administrations in modern history."
• Finding out what Uncle Sam has on you by David E. Kaplan, U.S. News and World Report, March 10. "Often the records can be obtained by simply asking for them, but since 9/11, federal agencies have grown increasingly stubborn about what they release. In U.S. News's interview with secrecy watchdog Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, Aftergood warned that the FOIA is under attack."
• NORAD orders Web deletion of transcript by Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, March 9. "In an unusual follow-up to a public event, the Defense Department and the Transportation Security Administration have ordered that a transcript of an open hearing on aviation restrictions be yanked from the Web."
• CIA sued over right to publish by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, March 6. "A former CIA employee, a member of the first post-Sept. 11 class of trainee U.S. spies, is suing the agency for the right to publish a memoir of his experiences, which he says officials cleared for release, but then changed their minds about."
• National Archives Hosts Summit with Federal Agencies to Discuss Re-review of Documents, NARA news release, March 6. In his opening remarks, Professor Weinstein thanked the agencies for cooperating with the moratorium. “I place a very high value on maintaining public credibility, trust and respect, which must be earned and cannot be finessed by protecting documents from release,” he said.
• Pro-Israel Lobbying Group Roiled by Prosecution of Two Ex-Officials by Scott Shane and David Johnston, New York Times, March 5. "A January legal brief by lawyers for Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman — written in part by Viet D. Dinh, a conservative former assistant attorney general in the Bush Justice Department — argued that the charges were a dangerous effort to criminalize conduct protected by the First Amendment. That argument gets fervent support from people who may not share the Aipac officials' conservative views on foreign policy."
• Your private life? Not anymore, Cleveland Plain Dealer (editorial), March 4. "Allowing the government to accrue so much information about the behavior of its citizens is a dangerous course that threatens all long-held concepts of privacy rights."
• Hamas strength seen in State Department poll by Jonathan S. Landay, Knight Ridder Newspapers, March 3. "A State Department-commissioned poll taken days before January's Palestinian elections warned U.S. policymakers that the militant Islamic group Hamas was in a position to win."
• Former CIA Officer Sues Agency in Prepublication Review Dispute, news release, March 3. "A former CIA Intelligence Officer, Thomas Waters, Jr., filed a lawsuit today before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asserting his First Amendment rights are being intentionally violated by the CIA. The CIA has threatened Waters with legal penalties if he publishes significant portions of his book 'Class 11: Inside the CIA’s First Post-9/11 Spy Class'."
• Archivist of the United States Announces New Steps in Response to Withdrawal of Declassified Records from Open Shelves at the National Archives, NARA news release, March 2. "These steps include the imposition of a moratorium on identifying for withdrawal for classification purposes any declassified records currently on the public shelves."

Older News: February 2006

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