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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: February 2003

January 2003

• Department of Homeland Security: Rule on Classified National Security Information, from the Federal Register, January 27.
• Bush wages unprecedented, systematic assault on openness by Pierre Tristam, Daytona Beach News-Journal, January 26. "It took President Bush eight months and the attacks of Sept. 11 to 'look presidential.' It took him no time after that to start acting like an emperor who owed explanations to no one and who was owed deference by all."
• Recipes for Bioterrror: Censoring Science by Philip Cohen, New Scientist, January 18. "The US has already introduced a barrage of legislation to restrict access to dangerous pathogens. There are also moves to limit access to unclassified but sensitive information. But what constitutes 'sensitive' is the greyest of areas."
• Rumsfeld wants sensitive info off Defense Web sites by George Edmonson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 18. "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, noting the likelihood that terrorists regularly check Pentagon Web sites, has told officials to cut down on posting sensitive unclassified material."
• Military worried about Web leaks by Declan McCullagh, CNet News.com, January 16. "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns in a directive sent to military units that too much unclassified but worrisome material is popping up on the Web."
• Rumsfeld orders .mil Web lockdown by Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus.com, January 16. "U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week directed the armed service to strip military Web sites of information that could benefit adversaries, citing a terrorist training manual and a year-long review of the Department of Defense's 700-gigabyte Web presence."
• Rumsfeld Message on DoD Web Site Security, January 14. "Too often data posted are insufficiently reviewed for sensitivity and/or inadequately protected."
• Senators Criticize Pentagon for Failing to Consult on Stryker Combat Brigades, letter from Senators Stevens and Inouye, January 6. "Mr. Secretary, your action on the Stryker brigades is yet another disregard of the Congress, and existing law, by the senior leadership of the Defense Department."
• Letter to Attorney General Ashcroft on "Data Mining" from Senators Patrick Leahy, Russell Feingold, and Maria Cantwell, January 10. "Reliance on data mining by law enforcement agencies may produce an increase in false leads and law enforcement mistakes. While the former is a waste of resources, the latter may result in mistaken arrests or surveillance."
• Scientists Discuss Balance of Research and Security by Diana Jean Schemo, New York Times, January 10. "Leading scientists began talks here today on whether and how to withhold publication of scientific information that could compromise national security."
• UC replaces labs vice president under threat of losing contract by Andrea Widener, San Jose Mercury News, January 9. "In an attempt to cool a simmering scandal, University of California President Richard Atkinson has put a trusted adviser in charge of repairing oversight of the nation's two nuclear weapons research labs."
• What Leaks Are Good Leaks? by Jack Nelson, Los Angeles Times, January 5. "Tension between the federal government and the news media over official secrecy has existed throughout most of the country's history, but no president since Richard Nixon has been as secretive or as combative about leaks as George W. Bush."
• Government Openness at Issue as Bush Holds on to Records by Adam Clymer, New York Times, January 3. "The Bush administration has put a much tighter lid than recent presidents on government proceedings and the public release of information, exhibiting a penchant for secrecy that has been striking to historians, legal experts and lawmakers of both parties."
• Bush's Year of U.S. Surveillance by Noah Schachtman, Wired News, January 2. "It may seem unreasonable, unfair and downright mean-spirited to compare the Bush administration to the minions of Sauron, the granddaddy of evil in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But here goes."

Older News: December 2002

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