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
News Article Index
A lawsuit that sought to challenge Bush Administration
restrictions on public access to Presidential records from
past Administrations was dismissed by a federal court this
week.
In November 2001, President Bush issued an executive order that
significantly increased the authority of current and former
presidents to block public requests for unclassified records
from prior administrations.
In one of its more extravagant formulations, the Bush order
asserted a hereditary right of executive privilege by which
the heirs of a deceased or disabled former president could
assert the privilege on his behalf.
The executive order (EO 13233) was challenged by a broad
coalition of historians and public interest researchers led by
Scott Nelson of the Public Citizen Litigation Group.
But their complaint was not "justiciable," a court ruled,
concluding that the plaintiffs did not have standing and could
not demonstrate imminent injury.
Fundamentally, the ruling suggests that the courts cannot serve
as an effective venue in which to challenge official secrecy
policies, no matter how egregious they may be.
HOUSE INTELLIGENCE STAFFER PLAYED SECRET ADVOCACY ROLE
A staff member of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence last year drafted legislation that apparently
would have channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars to an
advocacy group that he was working to establish, according to
a jaw-dropping story in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
That particular provision was blocked by the Senate in
conference. But the House committee staffer, John Stopher,
went on to help create and raise funds for the United States
Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, an advocacy organization
that sought $60,000 membership fees from industry sponsors.
The story, reported by Damon Chappie, represents an unusually crass
instance of bias and conflict of interest among intelligence committee
staff members.
A more commonplace concern has to do with the fact that a
significant fraction of committee staffers are former
employees of the intelligence agencies they oversee or
perhaps, like the current Director of Central Intelligence,
they hope to be future employees.
Either way, their capacity for independent criticism or, when
necessary, confrontation is likely to be diminished.
