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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: April 2003

March 2003

• The Bush Administration's Suffocating Secrecy by Steven Aftergood, Forward, March 28. "Without robust, reliable access to government information, members of the public cannot function intelligently as citizens, cannot meaningfully participate in the policy process and cannot adequately evaluate the performance of their elected representatives or hold the government institutions accountable."
• Executive Order Delays Declassifying Documents National Public Radio Morning Edition, March 27. "President Bush issues an executive order delaying for at least three years the release of millions of classified documents."
• Release of Documents in Delayed Dana Milbank and Mike Allen, Washington Post, March 26. "The Bush administration last night issued an order delaying the release of millions of government documents and giving the government new powers to reclassify information."
• Bush Orders a 3-Year Delay in Opening Secret Documents by Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, March 26. "President Bush today signed an executive order that will delay the release of millions of government documents and make it easier for presidents and their administrations to keep historical records secret."
• Secret Papers' Release Delayed by Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, March 26. "President Bush on Tuesday delayed the release of millions of classified government documents, signing an order to extend by more than three years a review process intended to protect national security."
• Pseudoscience Applied to Scientists by Peg Brickley, The Scientist, March 26. "Life scientists who work on sensitive government projects could find themselves hooked-up to polygraph machines in spite of continued criticism of the science behind such lie-detector tests."
• White House Background Briefing on New Executive Order on Classification Policy, conference call with "senior Administration official," March 25. "The executive order continues the existing program of automatic declassification, which has been a very successful program to ensure declassification of classified documents after 25 years, except in certain specified circumstances."
• ISCAP Issues 2002 Communique, press release from the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, March 25. "ISCAP declassified information in 76 percent of the documents in the appeals it has acted upon to date."
• U.S. Ready to Rescind Clinton Order on Government Secrets by Adam Clymer, New York Times, March 21. "Making it easier for government agencies to keep documents secret, the Bush Administration plans to revoke an order issued by President Bill Clinton."
• Israeli Military Censor Issues Instructions for Coverage of War in Iraq, sent to Israeli publications, March 19. "Given the current security situation, you are reminded that it is required to submit [for the Censor's review] all materials that could pose a threat to the security of the State of Israel and its residents...."
• NSA Seeks FOIA Exemption for "Operational Files", proposed for the FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act. "The authority to exempt operational files will allow NSA to better focus on its signals intelligence mission."
• Intelligence reorganization spotlights fabled FBI-CIA rift by Drew Clark, National Journal Technology Daily, March 17. "Others say they are wary because the traditional intelligence agencies are largely exempt from having to publicly account for their or spending."
• Supreme Court Filing Claims Air Force, Government Fraud in 1953 Case by Hampton Stephens, Inside the Air Force, March 14. "Observers of federal secrecy policy say the case highlights flaws in the way the state secrets privilege is adjudicated."
• Corps Yanks Documents Off the Web by Jon Elliston, The Independent Weekly (Durham, NC), March 12. "Citing national security concerns, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has unceremoniously purged an online database of documents on former defense sites."
• Spoon-Feeding the Press by Camille T. Taiara, San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 12. "The Bush administration's unprecedented war on public information – and how the major news media are going along."
• Levin Offers Legislation to Restore Freedom of Information Provisions in Homeland Security Act, press release, March 12. "The Restore Freedom of Information Act (Restore FOIA) would strike the existing Homeland Security Act FOIA exemption for 'critical infrastructure information' and replace it with a FOIA exemption that would protect both the public's right to know and companies' confidential business information."
• Intelligence Deficient by Laura Rozen, The American Prospect, March 6. "One of the main findings of a post-September 11 congressional inquiry was that a failure to share and jointly analyze foreign and domestic terrorism information was disrupting our ability to detect and prevent attacks. Bush's DHS proposal promised to change that."
• Military Wants Its Own Spies by Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, March 4. "Moving onto the CIA's turf, the Pentagon is seeking a cadre of operatives for global reconnaissance and the fight against terrorism."
• Security Concerns Imperil Research by Glennda Chui, San Jose Mercury News, March 3. "As the United States confronts a new era of terrorism and war, scientists say the government's drive to tighten security is taking a toll on research and threatening to erode a culture that has made the nation a powerhouse of innovation and discovery."
• FERC Rule on Critical Energy Infrastructure Information, Federal Register, March 3. Establishes a procedure for gaining access to critical energy infrastructure information (CEII) that would otherwise not be available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Older News: February 2003

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