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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: September 2011

August 2011

• WikiLeaks denies charges it put lives in danger by Mark Hosenball, Reuters, August 31. "WikiLeaks is defending itself against accusations that it may have put lives at risk by dumping uncensored U.S. diplomatic cables on the Internet."
• WikiLeaks publishes cables exposing confidential sources by Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times, August 31. "The development has alarmed U.S. officials and human rights groups, who say it will endanger foreign nationals who helped the U.S. and make it less likely that others will do so in the future."
• US concerned individuals at risk after WikiLeaks dump by Lachlan Carmichael, Agence France Presse, August 30. "The United States on Tuesday voiced renewed concern over the risks to individuals after the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks made public more US diplomatic cables, many of which contained the names of sensitive sources."
• WikiLeaks Leaves Names of Diplomatic Sources in Cables by Scott Shane, New York Times, August 30. "In a shift of tactics that has alarmed American officials, the antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks has published on the Web nearly 134,000 leaked diplomatic cables in recent days, more than six times the total disclosed publicly since the posting of the leaked State Department documents began last November."
• Warrantless Surveillance Memos Stay Classified by Pete Yost, Associated Press, August 29. "The Justice Department is refusing to release legal memos the George W. Bush administration used to justify his warrantless surveillance program, one of the most contentious civil liberties issues during the Republican president's time in office."
• CIA demands cuts to critical 9/11 memoir by Dan De Luce, Agence France Presse, August 26. "The Central Intelligence Agency has demanded a publisher make extensive cuts to a book critical of its performance before and after the September 11 attacks, officials said Friday."
• Office of Legal Counsel Denies Release of Yoo Legal Memoranda on surveillance, response to FOIA request, August 10. "We are releasing one document with redactions pursuant to FOIA Exemptions One, Three and Five, because the redacted information is classified, covered by non-disclosure provisions contained in other federal statutes, and is protected by the deliberative process privilege."
• FAS Proposal for U.S. Open Government Plan, August 21. "The U.S. Government should adopt a policy of publishing all non-sensitive products generated by the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center. Doing so would serve to enrich the online domain with uniquely high-value content on a broad range of national security and foreign policy topics."
• Mug Shot Profiteers by Corey Paul, Willamette Week, August 24. "Been arrested? This website puts up your photo and sees profit in your shame. Others see extortion."
• Gov't post-9/11 rush to hide data abates, but persists in name of fighting terror by Justin Pritchard, Associated Press, August 22. "As a staggered nation scrambled after Sept. 11, 2001, to anticipate possible next targets, there was a widespread sanitizing of publicly available information suddenly viewed as tipsheets and road maps for terrorists. But what also resulted, as shown by an Associated Press review for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, were some befuddling inconsistencies -- telling private pilots not to fly over nuclear reactors, for example, and then not allowing them access to plant locations."
• When secrecy gets out of hand by J. William Leonard, Los Angeles Times, August 10. "Far too many government documents are wrongly classified top secret. The White House needs to sanction those who inappropriately classify information and take greater care in what it labels secret."
• Suicides, PTSD and Drug Abuse Among Combat Vets by Mark Thompson, Time Battleland blog, August 9. "Once again, the Congressional Research Service has badgered a federal agency - in this case the Department of Veterans Affairs - and come up with snapshots about how U.S. vets seeking VA services are faring."
• An Opinion by Judge on Spy Law Creates a Stir by Charlie Savage, New York Times, August 5. "Proponents of press freedom have praised a ruling last week by a federal judge who protected a writer from being forced to testify in court about his sources for a book on the Central Intelligence Agency. But her opinion included a little-noticed passage: a suggestion that many journalists could be charged with a felony."
• Obama's (Counterproductive) War on Leaks by Massimo Calabresi, Time Swampland blog, August 5. "Harvard's Jack Goldsmith has an interesting take on the Obama administration's crackdown on government leaks at Lawfare.
• Complaint Seeks Punishment for Classification of Documents by Scott Shane, New York Times, August 2. "In a rare symbolic strike against unnecessary government secrecy, the government's former classification czar has filed a formal complaint against the National Security Agency and Justice Department seeking punishment of officials who classified a document that he says contained no secrets."
• Senate Passes Faster FOIA Bill Again Amid Growing Criticism by Channing Turner, MainJustice.com, August 2. "The Senate voted by voice vote Monday to pass legislation aiming to improve the process behind Freedom of Information Act requests."
• Mug-Shot Industry Will Dig Up Your Past, Charge You to Bury It Again by David Kravets, Wired Threat Level, August 2. "The business model seems to be to generate embarrassment and then remove the source of the embarrassment for a fee."
• New chief on board at classification oversight office by Sean Reilly, Federal Times FedLine blog, August 1. "As of today, the Information Security Oversight Office has a new director in the person of John P. Fitzpatrick, a former top security official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."

Older News: July 2011

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Updated September 6, 2011