SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2018, Issue No. 22
April 2, 2018

Secrecy News Blog: https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

DNI SAYS BUILD TRUST IN INTELLIGENCE THROUGH TRANSPARENCY

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats recently revised a 2012 Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) on "Civil Liberties and Privacy" to address transparency policy, and reissued it as "Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency."

The revised directive ICD 107 states that "the DNI is committed to protecting civil liberties and privacy and promoting greater public transparency, consistent with United States values and founding principles as a democratic society."

ICD 107 now mandates "external engagements" with the public; it calls for use of "new technologies to make intelligence information. . . accessible to the public. . . with sufficient clarity and context so that it is readily understandable"; and it directs that IC agencies shall describe to the public "why certain information can and cannot be released."

In a March 22 memorandum to agencies announcing the revised directive, DNI Coats said that "With the reissuance of ICD 107, we have firmly established transparency as a foundational element of securing public trust in our endeavors, alongside the protection of civil liberties and privacy."

As indicators of recent progress in transparency, the DNI cited the relaunch of the Intelligence.gov website that provides information about IC agencies; a new historical declassification program that will review records concerning the 1968 Tet Offensive; and new details regarding oversight and use of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

But while these are all commendable steps, they do not seem well calculated to achieve the goal of "securing public trust."

Building trust requires more than public relations or even declassification of historical documents. Remarkably, dozens of breakthroughs in transparency during the Obama Administration did little to generate trust and were largely ignored and unappreciated.

Trust building depends on a willingness to be held accountable, and on responsiveness (not just unilateral gestures) to overseers and the public.

Transparency for trust-building should therefore stress what lawyers call "admissions against interest," or disclosures that could risk placing the agency in an unfavorable light, at least initially, but that would build credibility over time. Such disclosures might include regular release of compliance reports regarding suspected deviations from law or policy, investigative reports or summaries from intelligence agency Inspectors General, and the like.

Public trust could also be strengthened positively by responsively adding value to public discourse. The intelligence community could help foster a constructive relationship with the public by routine publication of open source intelligence products, and by setting up an orderly process for responding to substantial public interest in topics of current intelligence importance or controversy (beyond Section 702).

A panel discussion on "Building and Sustaining Democratic Legitimacy" in intelligence was held last week as part of a symposium organized by the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

USA V. TERRY ALBURY: THE SECOND TRUMP-ERA LEAK CASE

FBI agent Terry J. Albury was charged last week with two violations of the Espionage Act statutes for disclosing classified information to a reporter for the Intercept. The charges, including unauthorized disclosure and unauthorized retention of national defense information, were formally presented by the Justice Department in a March 27 "Information."

See also "Minneapolis FBI agent charged with leaking classified information to reporter" by Mukhtar M. Ibrahim, MPR News, March 28.

The Albury case is the second criminal prosecution in the Trump Administration arising from a leak of classified information to the news media. The first was the pending case of Reality Winner.

DECLINING USE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, & MORE FROM CRS

Public transportation systems across the United States are losing riders. Excluding gains in New York City, national ridership decreased by 7% over the past decade. A new report from the Congressional Research Service examines the causes and consequences of this decline. See Trends in Public Transportation Ridership: Implications for Federal Policy, March 26, 2018.

Other new and updated CRS reports issued last week include the following.

U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications, updated March 27, 2018:

Guatemala: Political and Socioeconomic Conditions and U.S. Relations, updated March 27, 2018:

House Committee Markups: Manual of Procedures and Procedural Strategies, updated March 27, 2018:

Whose Line is it Anyway: Could Congress Give the President a Line-Item Veto?, CRS Legal Sidebar, March 27, 2018:

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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.

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