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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: September 2006

August 2006

• Security Measures Hike Secrecy Costs by Christopher Lee, Washington Post, August 31. "The federal government spent $7.7 billion last year to safeguard classified information -- and that did not even include what the Central Intelligence Agency spent, says a new report by the federal Information Security Oversight Office. (The CIA's costs, wouldn't you know it, are classified.)"
• NRC Requires Fingerprinting and Criminal History Check for Access to Safeguards Information, Federal Register, August 31. "No person may have access to Safeguards Information unless that person has a need-to-know the SGI, has been fingerprinted or who has a favorably-decided FBI identification and criminal history records check, and satisfies all other applicable requirements for access to SGI."
• U.S. spent $9.2 billion on secrecy in 2005, United Press International, August 28. "The U.S. government spent more than $9.2 billion last year keeping things secret. That represents a 13 percent rise over the previous year."
• New ruling in AIPAC case raises questions about 'foreign agents' by Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 23. "A new pretrial ruling in the classified-information case against two former pro-Israel lobbyists raises new questions about what defines a 'foreign agent' and whether the government has the right to spy on lobbyists."
• Cold War Missiles Target of Blackout by Christopher Lee, Washington Post, August 21. "The Bush administration has begun designating as secret some information that the government long provided even to its enemy the former Soviet Union: the numbers of strategic weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during the Cold War."
• Watchdog Group Removes Anti-Missile Report From Site by Josh Gerstein, New York Sun, August 15. "A scientific watchdog group has removed from its Web site an unclassified government report on anti-missile technology after receiving a warning letter from the Department of Homeland Security."
• An expansive view of 'state secrets' by Nat Hentoff, Washington Times, August 14. "When the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit against AT&T for, it said, giving the National Security Agency 'secret, direct access to phone calls and e-mail ... detailing the activities of millions of ordinary Americans,' the Justice Department went to the judge, as it often has in such cases, insisting the lawsuit not be heard because it involves 'state secrets'."
• No Secrets Allowed, NPR On the Media, August 11. "Over the past year, we've reported on the progress of the case against two lobbyists changed with violating the Espionage Act....On Thursday, Judge T.S. Ellis ruled their case could go forward, sending shivers up the spines of press advocates like Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists."
• Lobbyists to Stand Trial in Spy Case by Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times, August 11. "In a ruling with potentially broad implications, a federal judge said Thursday that the Bush administration could use espionage laws to prosecute private citizens who gained access to national defense information."
• Judge Rejects Dismissal of Pro-Israel Lobbyists Case by Jerry Markon, Washington Post, August 11. "A federal judge yesterday declined to throw out the criminal case against two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of violating the Espionage Act, denying their argument that the novel prosecution infringed on their constitutional right to free speech."
• Aipac Judge Throws Out First Amendment Claim by Josh Gerstein, New York Sun, August 11. "A federal judge has rejected claims by two pro-Israel lobbyists that their prosecution for trafficking in classified information violates the First Amendment and threatens to criminalize the routine activities of journalists, lobbyists, and foreign policy experts."
• St. Mary's grant in limbo by Melissa Ludwig, San Antonio Express News, August 10. "A $1 million grant awarded to St. Mary's University Center for Terrorism Law to study ways to limit access to certain kinds of public information in the interest of national security may be in trouble. The Air Force Research Laboratory said this week that it won't administer the research project, according to Secrecy News, the newsletter and online blog of the Federation of American Scientists."
• FOIA at forty: Public service or potential threat? by Bill Berkowitz, Working for Change, August 10. "The Bush administration awards $1 million for study aimed at limiting information available to the public via the Freedom of Information Act."
• Dept of Homeland Security Asks FAS to Remove Document from FAS Web Site, letter from DHS Deputy Associate General Counsel William H. Anderson, August 9. "If the Report is not removed from your website within 2 business days, we will consider further appropriate actions necessary to protect the information contained in the Report."
• The DNI civil rights switcheroo by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, August 8. "The ACLU was one of the organizations that successfully campaigned for an office for civil liberties and privacy within the new structure that Congress gave U.S. intelligence in its huge overhaul in 2004. But they probably never imagined that one of their top lobbyists would quit to go work there."
• Classified intelligence bills often are unread by Susan Milligan, Boston Globe, August 6. "Nearly all members of the House of Representatives opted out of a chance to read this year's classified intelligence bill, and then voted on secret provisions they knew almost nothing about."
• Bond Legislation Targets Intelligence Leaks, news release, August 2. "U.S. Senator Kit Bond, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, today introduced legislation aimed at cracking down on intelligence leaks by government employees or contractors by making it easier for the government to prosecute and punish those who make public America's sensitive intelligence programs."

Older News: July 2006

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