Update 9/14/06
Update 9/14/06
Official Secrets Act – Protests and a Renewed Dialogue. Sen. Kid Bond’s bill to criminalize the disclosure of any classified information has drawn letters of protest from the National Newspaper Association, Newspaper Association of America and 15 state press associations, from the Society of Environmental Journalists, and from the Sunshine in Government Initiative, which includes CJOG. (Copies are those letters are attached, along with a background paper on the bill.)
We think it is unlikely the bill, as a stand-alone, will move forward this session. However, there remains the danger that the language could be attached to one of the spending bills Congress is committed to act on.
The SGI letter, sent to Sen. Bond and members of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, urges the lawmakers to abandon the proposed legislation and instead endorse a renewed dialogue between government and the media. The dialogue was initiated by Jeffrey Smith, former general counsel of the CIA, after 911 and the withdrawal of an earlier official secrets proposal. The meetings initially explored allegations that leaks had damaged national security but evolved into practical discussions of steps both government officials and the media could take to mitigate possible damage to national security. The off-the-record discussions involved senior representatives of intelligence agencies, members of Congress and media representatives. The dialogues continued in Washington through 2004. Another was held at the Aspen Institute in 2005.
Aspen has agreed to reconvene the dialogue and NAA is taking the lead in funding the project, putting up $50,000 and reaching out to the Ford Foundation for another $150,000. Scott Armstrong, a driving force in the earlier dialogues, will serve as coordinator. The initial conference is scheduled for October.
One Step for Transparency: The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, a bill that creates an online database of information on government contracts and grants, looked dead for the session. An anonymous hold had been placed on the bill in the Senate, blocking it from moving forward. Thanks to some strong editorial comment across the country, and some quality detective work by bloggers who smoked out the senator, the bill escaped committee and was approved by the Senate. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-AK, withdrew his hold once he was identified. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WVa, had an earlier hold but dropped his hold. The House passed the bill Wednesday. President Bush has indicated he will sign it.
Son of Barda and a Manhattan Project for Energy: Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, chair of the subcommittee on Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness has filed a bill, S3678, directing the secretary of Health and Human Services to prepare and implement a national preparedness and response strategy to deal with major public health crises. Like Burr’s revised BARDA bill, it would create a statutory exemption from FOIA for any information the secretary considers sensitive. The new bill would also reauthorize a 2002 law on public health security and bioterrorism preparedness that expires this fall. That might give the legislation some legs in an already jammed session.
The Program for Real Energy Security Act, (PROGRESS), HR 5965, is being put forward by 65 Democrats to create a Manhattan Project to develop high efficiency vehicles and to subsidize research on lithium ion batteries. And like the World War II project to develop an atomic bomb, the plan is to do all this in great secrecy. The bill provides that any information given the government “on a confidential basis” be excluded from FOIA.
Critical Infrastructure Information: The Department of Homeland Security has finalized its Interim Final Rule on CII. CJOG and 14 member organizations filed comments back in May, 2004 seeking modifications. DHS made changes in a few areas where we had expressed concern, but in a quick review I didn’t find anything in the final final rule that will shed any real light, force any accountability or prevent abuse of process. I’ll post an analysis on the website shortly for those who enjoy punishment.
Pete Weitzel
