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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: May 2006

April 2006

• Read the news, go to jail by David Wise, Los Angeles Times, April 30. "The Constitution remains a barrier to those who would restrict the flow of information to the media — and thus to the public. But administration policies are gradually chipping away at its protections."
• Cheney exempts his own office from reporting on classified material by Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune, April 30. "As the Bush administration has dramatically accelerated the classification of information as "top secret" or "confidential," one office is refusing to report on its annual activity in classifying documents: the office of Vice President Dick Cheney."
• DSS Will No Longer Accept Industry Requests for Security Clearances, Reinvestigations, Defense Security Service, April 28. "Until such time as the limitations on funding are resolved, please do not submit any new requests for investigation."
• CIA tightens limits on former employees' ability to speak out by Shane Harris, National Journal, April 28. "The CIA has imposed new and tighter restrictions on the books, articles, and opinion pieces published by former employees who are still contractors with the intelligence agency."
• Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB); Notice of Meeting, Federal Register, April 28. The PIDB will hold its first public meeting on Tuesday, May 9.
• Some Archives Files Wrongly Kept Secret by Christopher Lee, Washington Post, April 27. "The CIA and other agencies wrongly kept secret about a third of the records they pulled from public shelves at the National Archives during reclassification efforts that were far more extensive than previously disclosed, according to an audit released yesterday."
• National Archives/ISOO Releases Audit on Withdrawal of Records from Public Access, news release, April 26. "The audit concluded that 64% of the 1,353 records sampled did, in fact, contain information that met the standards for continued classification."
• Pentagon wants to tighten disclosure of security data by Rebecca Carr, Cox News Service, April 26. "Open-government advocates say the fine print of the Pentagon's definition of weapons of mass destruction is so broad that it could jeopardize the flow of information to state and local governments in the event of an attack as well as conceal safety records at laboratories and plants around the country."
• Congress cracking down on U.S. leaks by Siobhan Gorman, Baltimore Sun, April 25. "Amid intense debate over how far the government can go to keep its secrets secret, Congress is taking up an expansive intelligence measure that proposes tougher steps in cracking down on leaks of classified information and authorizes broad arrest powers for security officers at intelligence agencies."
• FBI Rebuffed on Reporter's Files by Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, April 19. "The family of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson yesterday rejected a request by the FBI to turn over 50 years of files to agents who want to look for evidence in the prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists, as well as any classified documents Anderson had collected."
• Dead Journalist's Archives Sought In U.S. Spy Case by Eli Lake, New York Sun, April 19. "The FBI is requesting the archives of a dead journalist to use as evidence in next month's trial of two former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee."
• Late Journalist's Family Resists FBI Request for His Documents by Nick Timiraos, Los Angeles Times, April 19. "Jack Anderson turned up plenty of government secrets during his half-century career as an investigative reporter, and his family had hoped to make his papers available to the public after his death in December — but the government wants to see, and possibly confiscate, them first."
• Proposed DoD FOIA Exemption for Unclassified WMD Information, legislative proposal to Congress. "This section would exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) certain information in the possession of the Department of Defense concerning weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which does not also meet the threshold for national security classification."
• National Archives Releases Second Declassified MOU, news release, April 17. "On Thursday, April 13, 2006, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein learned that a second classified Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relating to the re-review of open records existed. He requested its immediate declassification."
• Leak Flap Seen Aiding Lobbyists' Case by Marc Perelman, Forward, April 14. "Allegations that President Bush authorized the leaking of controversial data on Iraqi weapons could bolster the defense of the two former staffers of the pro-Israel lobby charged with receiving and disclosing classified national defense information, legal experts said."
• Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says by Murray Waas, National Journal, April 14. "There is a growing body of information showing that at the time Plame was outed the vice president was deeply involved in the effort to undermine her husband."
• Who Decides to Declassify Government Documents?, NPR Talk of the Nation, April 13. "Who decides what should be kept 'top secret'? And does classifying information protect national security -- or politicians? with guests Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, and Richard Kerr, deputy director of the CIA, 1989 to 1992."
• White House defends right to declassify by Siobhan Gorman, Baltimore Sun, April 8. "The White House sidestepped allegations yesterday that President Bush single-handedly declassified an intelligence report, while steadfastly maintaining that he has the power to do so."
• Libby testimony shows a White House pattern of intelligence leaks by Warren P. Strobel and Ron Hutcheson, Knight Ridder Newspapers, April 7. "The revelation that President Bush authorized former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to divulge classified information about Iraq fits a pattern of selective leaks of secret intelligence to further the administration's political agenda."
• House committee calls for less secrecy in federal agencies By James Kuhnhenn, Knight Ridder Newspapers, April 7. "In a rare attempt to place restrictions on the executive branch, a House of Representatives committee has approved legislation that would remove secrecy veils from some government documents, ban government propaganda in the United States and limit lobbying by former government employees."
• Questions raised on president's role by Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe, April 7. "The news that President Bush allegedly authorized the leak of a classified report on Iraqi weapons in 2003 underscores the administration's eagerness to build a case against Saddam Hussein, and buttresses the contention that many media leaks come from official sources, not whistle-blowers."
• Bush role alleged in leak of Iraq intelligence by James Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle, April 7. "Detailed evidence has emerged for the first time suggesting that President Bush played a direct role in authorizing a selective, surreptitious leak of information from a highly classified national security document to rebut critics of the war in Iraq."
• Judge Calls Speech Rights Central to Espionage Case by Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times, April 2. "Federal prosecutors, trumpeting the indictment last year of two pro-Israel lobbyists who allegedly obtained U.S. defense secrets from a former Pentagon analyst, said the men had crossed a 'clear line in the law.' But that line is turning out to be not so clear, and the government's high-profile case might be unraveling."

Older News: March 2006

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