The Espionage Act is “in many respects incomprehensible,” wrote Harold Edgar and Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. in a definitive law review article (large pdf) three decades ago which explored the potential use of the Act to prosecute leaks to the media. The espionage statutes are “so sweeping as to be absurd,” they argued (previously noted […]
(Updated Below) Some new details on the preparation of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) and its presentation to the President and a small number of other officials are discussed in a Central Intelligence Agency declaration (pdf) filed last week in the prosecution of former Vice Presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. “Six mornings a week, […]
U.S. Army intelligence has produced a handbook (pdf) that is intended “to provide soldiers with a basic overview of Arab culture.” It begins with “Where is the Arab World?” and “What is an Arab?” and proceeds onward to brief and elementary discussions of Arabic language, culture, and politics. Viewing the Arab world in this way, […]
Secrecy News is honored to be recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) with its James Madison Award, which is “presented annually on the anniversary of his birth (March 16) to honor those who have championed, protected, and promoted public access to government information and the public’s right to know.” “This award is, we believe, […]
The FY07 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations is now available on the State Department’s website. The CBJ contains a detailed breakdown of the President’s budget request for foreign aid programs, including programs related to conventional arms threat reduction. Of particular importance is the $8.6 million request for the State Department’s SA/LW destruction program. This […]
A former Central Intelligence Agency employee, Thomas Waters Jr., filed a lawsuit against the Agency last week, arguing that publication of his book had been improperly blocked in the prepublication review process. “The Central Intelligence Agency has unlawfully imposed a prior restraint upon Thomas Waters by obstructing and infringing on his right to publish his […]
With final congressional reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act now imminent, new legislation was introduced in the Senate yesterday to amend the reauthorized Act. “What this legislation does is reinstate provisions of the original Senate-passed [Patriot Act reauthorization] bill,” said Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). Those provisions were rejected by the House Republican leadership. The new […]
“There is nothing in the Constitution about ‘the public’s right to know’,” wrote former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence Mark M. Lowenthal in his book “Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy” (CQ Press, 2000, page 143). “The Constitution safeguards freedom of speech and of the press, but these are not the same as a right to […]
The most troubling aspect of the prosecution of two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for mishandling classified information is that prosecutors have adopted an expansive new interpretation of the Espionage Act which could make criminals of many reporters, lobbyists and advocates who traffic in government information that may be classified. […]
“In my professional opinion, the NSA domestic surveillance program is as blatantly illegal a program as I’ve seen,” said Prof. Harold Hongju Koh, dean of the Yale Law School, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on February 28. Others disagreed. “I believe that the inherent authority of the president under Article II, under these circumstances, […]
The constant administrative churning of the defense policy process has yielded several notable new Department of Defense directives and instructions, such as the following. U.S. policy on handling classified NATO information is addressed in “United States Security Authority for North Atlantic Treaty Organization Affairs” (pdf), DoD Directive 5100.55, February 27, 2006. Continuity of military operations […]
“I am increasingly concerned that the Senate Intelligence Committee is unable to carry out its critically important oversight and threat assessment responsibilities due to stifling partisanship that is exhibited through repeated calls by Democrats on the committee to conduct politically-motivated investigations,” wrote Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in a March 3 letter (pdf) to Minority […]