Attorneys representing employees of the Central Intelligence Agency who are suing the Agency are obliged to sign a non-disclosure agreement and to comply with CIA secrecy requirements.
The CIA has prepared an introduction to its security policies (pdf) for non-governmental attorneys. It includes answers to questions such as: How do I know when information is classified? What restrictions are there on how I handle my client’s information at my office? And so forth. See “Security Guidance for Representatives,” Central Intelligence Agency, 2007.
The document was filed last week in the case of Franz Boening v. CIA, which alleges unlawful prior restraint by the Agency. The CIA is refusing to provide access to key case documents to the plaintiff’s attorney in the case, Mark S. Zaid, despite the fact that he holds a security clearance.
The clearinghouse will also neutrally mediate the assignment of auditors to audits—strengthening independence, trust, and ethical governance across the AI ecosystem.
The potential implication of these evidence gaps becomes more consequential when you look at how institutions actually make decisions day to day.
Every new institution inherits something – existing incentives, existing staff, decades of prior investment that shaped what’s possible.
This is not the first time Google has agreed to censor imagery at the behest of governments, but be warned: obfuscation at this broad level poses a direct threat to the public’s ability to monitor and scrutinize government operations.