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Secrecy and Security News

September 2005

Newer News: October 2005

• Israeli lobby spy case suggests new push to keep leaks from reporters by John Byrne, Raw Story, September 30. "In this case, the Justice Department extended the cloak of secrecy beyond the Pentagon, quietly expanding the power of the government to jail those who talk to the press, watchdogs and reporters’ advocates say."
• CIA Denies FOIA Request for Compilation of Bin Laden Statements, September 27. "We located the report that you requested and determined that it must be denied in its entirety on the basis of FOIA exemptions (b)(3) and (b)(4)."
• From spies to hurricane scientists by Katherine Shrader, Associated Press, September 22. "Peering from space using the government's most covert satellites, a little-known spy agency is turning its cameras toward Hurricane Rita and the destruction it is expected to inflict on the Gulf Coast."
• Secrecy Power Sinks Patent Case by Kevin Poulsen, Wired News, September 20. "The new court ruling is notable as a rare appellate interpretation of the state secrets privilege as it applies to patent holders. As such, it is a potentially worrying development for inventors...."
• Katrina Survivors Demand Right of Return by William Fisher, Inter Press Service News Agency, September 16. "On Sep. 8, Pres. Bush issued a proclamation suspending wage supports for relief workers engaged in Katrina recovery operations. But according to a report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), he relied upon a statutory authority that has been dormant for 30 years and that appears to be legally inoperative."
• House Intelligence Committee Holds Hearing on Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information, news release, September 14. "The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held a hearing on unauthorized disclosure of classified information, the first in a series of hearings the committee will hold on the subject."
• Timely, Effective and Fair? Justice Department makes a valuable public database all but inaccessible by Bob Williams, Center for Public Integrity, September 13. "It is a detailed database that could be shining a constant light on the shadowy and complicated world of Washington lobbyists working for foreign governments and overseas companies, a potentially invaluable tool for promoting government transparency, honesty and accountability. Instead, the Foreign Agent Registration Act database housed at the Justice Department— which is a public record by law—is a shadowy, complicated beast."
• Intel chief: Iraqis in insurgency more elusive by John Diamond, USA Today, September 13. "U.S. intelligence is struggling to expose elements of the insurgency in Iraq made up of former members of Saddam Hussein's regime, John Negroponte, the nation's intelligence chief, said in an interview Monday."
• Newly Declassified CIA Biography of Giuseppe Saragat (1963), from the JFK Library, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Papers, Box WH 12a, Italy, 2/1/63-2/28/63. "Giuseppe Saragat is the political secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party. He is a firm and consistent supporter of the Atlantic alliance, of the US against the USSR, and of Italian democracy against Fascism."
• Government Documents Increasingly Classified by Jackie Northam, NPR Morning Edition, September 8. "Government workers classified over 15 million documents last year, more than twice the number classified in 2001. The cost? About $7 billion."
• Govt Secrecy Carries a Hefty Price by William Fisher, Inter Press Service News Agency, September 8. "During 2004, the George W. Bush administration issued more secret court orders, spent 148 dollars creating new classified documents for every dollar spent releasing old ones, invoked the "state secrets" privilege in court cases more frequently than ever before, and received 25 percent more requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act."
• Military to bloggers: Watch your postings by Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes, September 4. "Army officials say their latest warning about posting photos isn’t an attempt to silence military bloggers, but critics worry it could be the first step."
• Army Chief Of Staff Calls For More Oversight Of Military Bloggers by Thomas Claburn, Information Week, September 1. "Military bloggers are compromising operational security, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker cautioned in an August memo to Army leaders. The memo was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists."
• Memo: BRAC ignored facts by Lisa Friedman, Los Angeles Daily News, September 1. "A member of the Pentagon's base closure team who helped decide the fate of Naval Base Ventura County warned the agency months ago that it was using a 'flawed process' that prejudged cutbacks at several military sites, a series of internal memos shows. The memos [were] obtained earlier this month by the Federation of American Scientists and released to the public."

Older News: August 2005

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