Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 13:17:10 -0400
To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
Subject: US Anti-Leak Proposal Fizzles
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
September 6, 2001


**      ANTI-LEAK PROPOSAL FIZZLES
[...]

**      REPORT OF CIA DECLASSIFICATION ADVISORY PANEL


ANTI-LEAK PROPOSAL FIZZLES

The widely criticized effort to enact a criminal statute prohibiting
the unauthorized disclosure of classified information ended with a
whimper Tuesday evening when a hearing on the matter was canceled and
the measure was withdrawn from consideration in the FY 2002
Intelligence Authorization Act.

A spokesman for Senator Richard Shelby, the leading proponent of the
measure, issued a terse statement:

      At the request of Attorney General John Ashcroft, the
      Intelligence Committee has postponed Wednesday's hearing
      to study the leaking of classified information.  The Justice
      Department has requested additional time to study this issue.

It was a delicate way of conceding that the Justice Department
opposes the pending legislation as currently drafted.

This is a remarkable development since the very same anti-leak
measure was endorsed by the Justice Department last year (and
supported as part of the FY 2001 Intelligence Authorization Act by
then-Senator John Ashcroft).  A Justice Department spokesman declined
to explain the reversal or to elaborate on the Department's current
assessment of the matter, which will be the subject of an interagency
review over the coming months.

Senator Shelby would not admit defeat.  "This bill is going to be
back in the hopper, if not by me then by others," he told the
Associated Press. "This is not a this-year legislation, necessarily.
It's long-term legislation. This legislation is not going away,
because the problem [of leaks] is going to get worse, not better."

Separately, the Senate is moving this week to adopt another anti-leak
statute as part of the Export Administration Act of 2001 (S.149,
Section 602d).   Unauthorized disclosure of certain information on
export applications, licenses and related data would be punishable by
a fine of up to $50,000 and up to a year in jail.  See:

    http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s149.html#penalty

[...]

REPORT OF CIA DECLASSIFICATION ADVISORY PANEL

The first "tranche" of declassified historical records from the
Office of the Director of Central Intelligence is in the process of
being released, according to a report published today by the CIA's
Historical Review Panel (HRP).

The new report is singularly uninformative, by design.  "Because the
HRP's advice to the DCI must be completely frank and candid, we are
not reporting Panel recommendations."

This is a polite falsehood that does the distinguished Panel members
no credit.  It is clear from previous disclosures of Panel
recommendations and from the work of similar advisory bodies that
confidentiality is not required to ensure the Panel's candor.
Rather, the only purpose of the report's deliberate vagueness is to
shield the Director of Central Intelligence from public criticism and
controversy.

See the Panel report here:

    http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/ciahrp4.html



Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood@fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691


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