Secrecy News: DOE Budget Goes Underground; WWII Study Blocked
Secrecy News: DOE Budget Goes
Underground; WWII Study Blocked
About
Secrecy News
SECRECY NEWS is an email publication of
the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
Project on Government Secrecy. It provides
informal coverage of new developments in secrecy,
security and intelligence policies, as well
as links to new acquisitions on the Federation
of American Scientists web site. It
is published 2 to 3 times a week, or as events
warrant. Secrecy
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The Department of Energy (DOE) is refusing to disclose the 2005
funding request for its small Office of Intelligence.
The budget for DOE intelligence has been unclassified for as long
as anyone can remember. But the 2005 DOE budget justification
documents, released on February 2, make no mention of the it.
Why the secrecy? DOE wouldn't say.
"We are not going to discuss this issue at this time," said
Joseph Davis, the principal deputy director of public affairs at
DOE, in response to a query from Secrecy News.
Last year, DOE systematically went through the prior-year budget documents
that are posted on the DOE web site and excised all reference to intelligence
spending (SN,
10/22/03).
But detailed DOE intelligence budget information for 1999 through
2004 is still
available here.
When it comes to intelligence budget secrecy, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation apparently didn't get the memo: The FBI
disclosed this week that it is requesting $13.4 million in 2005
for its own Office of Intelligence. It also reported proposed
funding levels for the joint Terrorist Threat Integration Center
and the Terrorist Screening Center. Likewise, the State
Department disclosed amounts requested for its Bureau of
Intelligence and Research (INR).
But these are exceptions. Intelligence budget secrecy remains
the rule, though an increasingly disputed one.
"After a dubious conclusion that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction
just before the war in Iraq, critics say there should be more financial
accountability for the government's spying," according to a story
about the "black budget" in USA Today.
A proposal to investigate the conduct of the United States
government towards foreign minorities detained or otherwise
placed in jeopardy during World War II is being blocked in the
United States Senate by an anonymous "hold," complained Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, a sponsor of the measure.
Last year, a bipartisan bill called the "Wartime Treatment Study
Act" was introduced in the Senate (S. 1691). Its declared
purpose is "to establish commissions to review the facts and
circumstances surrounding injustices suffered by European
Americans, European Latin Americans, and Jewish refugees during
World War II."
"S. 1691 would not grant reparations to victims. It would simply
create a commission to review the facts and circumstances of the
U.S. Government's treatment of German Americans, Italian
Americans and other European Americans during World War II,"
Sen. Feinstein said.
"Unfortunately, someone on the other [i.e. Republican] side of the
aisle has placed a hold on the bill. This anonymous person or persons
are unwilling to identify themselves or to explain the reasons for
the hold," Sen. Feinstein said. See her January 28 floor
statement here.
