CHENEY LOSES ROUND ONE, VOWS TO APPEAL
Freedom of Information Coalition
CHENEY LOSES ROUND ONE, VOWS TO APPEAL
Sat Feb 7 14:19:38 2004
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The E-Newsletter of the National
Freedom of Information Coalition
http://foi.missouri.edu/newsletter/index.html

CHENEY LOSES ROUND ONE, VOWS TO APPEAL: A federal judge yesterday ordered the Bush administration to turn over key documents about its energy task force for a second time, while government lawyers gave notice that they plan to take their case to an appeals court before complying.



U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave lawyers representing Vice President Cheney until Nov. 5 to produce documents that detail the membership rolls and meeting schedules of the National Energy Policy Development Group, which Cheney chaired. Sullivan had ordered the same documents turned over in August.



If the government does not produce the documents by the November date, Sullivan said, the administration must submit a claim of executive privilege and the reasons for it.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43102-2002Oct17.html





The Justice Department later sought to delay the court order, arguing that before any disclosure, a federal appeals court should be allowed to sort out “serious constitutional issues” surrounding a lawsuit against the Cheney task force.



http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17142





Then, seven days before a court-imposed deadline, the Bush administration said Tuesday it had fully reviewed only two of 12 boxes of documents at issue in lawsuits over Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. The judge said on Oct. 17 that he was shocked to hear from the government that it had not yet examined all of the documents.



http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17187





NO NEW LEAKS BILL: No new legislation is needed to combat unauthorized disclosures ("leaks") of classified information, according to the long-awaited report of an interagency task force led by Attorney General John Ashcroft.



However, strong new administrative measures to discourage leaks should be adopted, coupled with aggressive investigation of violations and vigorous enforcement of existing laws, the task force report said.



These notably would include an amended non-disclosure agreement signed by all authorized recipients of classified information that "sets out liquidated damages" in the event of a finding that the person leaked information, and a requirement that a suspected leaker certify under penalty of perjury that he or she had not engaged in a particular unauthorized disclosure.



http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dojleaks.html





JUDGE SHOOTS DOWN PRIVACY ARGUMENTS: A judge in Colorado on Wednesday ordered the release of the Columbine gunmen's records from a juvenile court program, saying the public has a legitimate interest in seeing whether the program failed. Jefferson County District Judge Brooke Jackson ordered the release of records from the 11 months Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold spent in the program, The Denver Post reported on its Web site. Harris and Klebold were ordered to participate in the program after they were arrested in 1998 for breaking into a van and stealing tools. Harris' parents had said they would not object to releasing the records. But Tom and Susan Klebold fought the release to protect their privacy. The judge ruled that was not a sufficient reason to keep the documents sealed. Harris and Klebold stormed Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, fatally shooting a teacher and 12 students and wounding 23 others before killing themselves. A prosecutors' task force asked Jackson to release the records.



http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1752938





GOOD NEWS: THE PEOPLE ARE AWAKENING! Polls and newspaper opinion pages indicate that Americans increasingly fear that the White House's encroachments on civil liberties run against this country's democratic values. In a recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, 62% of those surveyed said that the government should take steps to prevent future terrorism -- but not

if it means violating basic civil liberties. In January, only 49% said so.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2002-10-31-liberties-usat_x.htm







ANTI-TERROR NEWS



"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."

-- Justice Louis Brandeis (1928)


GOVERNMENT TO SCIENCE: HUSH! Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists for this tidbit….



Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are under orders from the Department of Energy to evade public inquiries concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the threat of catastrophic terrorism, and related issues.



"Respond with 'no comment' to all requests from the news media or other non-governmental organizations," instructed Livermore Lab Director Michael R. Anastasio in a September 13 memorandum to the Lab's Associate Directors.



Even official requests for information from members of Congress, their staffs, or other executive branch agencies are to be deflected for "coordination" with the Department of Energy Office of Intelligence.



The practical effect of the clampdown is to exclude Livermore scientists from "uncoordinated" participation in unclassified public discussion and debate over Iraqi nuclear weapons. (They are of course already precluded from disclosing classified information.)



Yet the importance of such expert participation in public debate was illustrated by the recent dispute over the significance of Iraqi efforts to acquire 60,000 "high strength aluminum tubes." In an October 7 speech, President Bush cited the attempted Iraqi purchase of the aluminum tubes as "evidence ... that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program." That assertion is rejected by many DOE scientists and other experts, who argue that the tubes could have other, non-nuclear applications.



The text of the Anastasio memo, which was first reported by Dan Stober in the September 25 San Jose Mercury News, is posted here:



www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/iraq091302.html



MORE ON SCIENCE: The sometimes delicate relationship between scientific research and national security was the subject of a hearing yesterday before the House Science Committee.

"The war on terrorism will be won in the laboratory just as much as on the battlefield," according to Committee chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert. But "if the laboratory is a theater of war, then what are its rules of engagement? War demands secrecy; science thrives on openness. How can a free society balance those competing demands?"

The hearing focused in particular on the proposed new category of "sensitive but unclassified" information, and on the treatment of foreign students and faculty.

The prepared testimony from the October 10 hearing on "Conducting Research During the War on Terrorism: Balancing Openness and Security" is posted here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2002/index.html#sci

The proceedings of a somewhat related workshop on "Secrecy and Knowledge Production," held at Cornell University in 1999, may be found here (see Occasional Paper 1999.23):

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/PeaceProgram/publications/occasional.asp

More coverage, this time from The New York Times:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1019-04.htm

THE ACADEMY WEIGHS IN: The government should sharply limit the classification of scientific and technical information, imposing "high fences around narrow areas," and should "avoid creation of vague and poorly defined categories of 'sensitive but unclassified' information," according to a new statement from the presidents of the National Academies of Science and Engineering.



The information designation "sensitive but unclassified" has become increasingly controversial because of its lack of any precise definition. "Experience shows that vague criteria of this kind generate deep uncertainties among both scientists and officials responsible for enforcing regulations," the NAS statement says. "The inevitable effect is to stifle scientific creativity and to weaken national security."



http://www.national-academies.org/topnews/#tn1018



A full copy of the report is available at:



http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10415.html?onpi_newsdoc062402



THIS JUST IN! RIDGE WANTS TO NARROW FOIA: Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge emphasized his belief in the importance of cooperation between government and business. As keynote speaker for day one of the Security and Competitiveness Symposium, Ridge was one of many experts speaking about the business world’s response to the threat of terrorism. A common and oft-repeated point made by Ridge is the importance of government and business cooperation. Ridge mentioned that congress is doing what it can help to help the sharing of information between businesses and the government by possibly relaxing rules as it relates to antitrust laws and the freedom of information act.

http://www.thetartan.org/97/7/news/2199.asp



GRAHAM, ON TV, CRITICIZES WHITE HOUSE SECRECY: The Bush Administration has adopted a pattern of selective disclosure of classified information that corresponds more closely to its political agenda than to the requirements of national security, according to Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Bob Graham.



"I will say there's been a pattern in which information is provided on a classified basis, and then what is declassified are those sections of the report that are most advantageous to the administration," he said yesterday on the CBS News program Face the Nation.



"And, frankly, there is a piece of information which is still classified which I consider to be the most important information that's come to the attention of the joint committee [investigating

September 11]."



"We hope that it will be declassified. I think it is an important part of our judgments as to where our greatest threats are and what steps we need to do to protect the American people here at home."



The full transcript of the October 20 Face the Nation may be found here:



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/21/ftn/main526319.shtml





THE NOT-SO-FRIENDLY SKIES: In the skies over the nation's capital, where no private aircraft are allowed to fly, pilot confusion recently resulted in the following incidents: A deaf pilot, straying into the restricted zone over Washington during a break from a convention for hearing-impaired aviators in Frederick, was intercepted by fighter jets and forced to land on the Eastern Shore. A Goodyear blimp operator was cited by federal officials, alleging that he took the dirigible into a no-fly zone over the city.

And a Maryland flight instructor was accused of flying over the capital twice - and questioned by the Secret Service twice about whether he hated President Bush and had ever been admitted to a mental institution. In June, the FAA reported 11 airspace violations by private pilots around Washington, then another 14 in July. In August, 16 people were accused of busting into the restricted area, and another 27 from September through mid-October, according to the latest figures available from the FAA and documents released pursuant to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

http://www.sunspot.net/bal-te.pilots18oct18,0,3405251.story?coll=bal-home-headlines





ACLU, EPIC SUE FOR INFORMATION ON PATRIOT ACT USAGE: The ACLU has launched a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, seeking information on how the surveillance provisions found in the Patriot Act have been used. While earlier disclosures provided anecdotal information, the ACLU and several other groups are seeking statistical information.



http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,106338,00.asp



A copy of the complaint is available at:



http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/patriot_foia_complaint.pdf







MILITARY REPORTERS FORM ACCESS ALLIANCE: As America wages the war on terrorism and moves toward conflict in Iraq, military journalists face increased restrictions to information and interviews. In response to those and other issues they face, a group of journalists recently joined forces to form Military Reporters and Editors. The organization, incorporated in Seattle with offices in San Antonio and Washington, D.C., was established by national and regional reporters who were concerned about tightened access to troops at home and aboard. The issues will be addressed when MREs holds its first conference Nov. 15-16 in Washington, D.C. Speakers include Pulitzer Prize finalist David Wood, national security correspondent with Newhouse News Service and Bob Woodward, an assistant managing editor at The Washington Post and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. More information on the conference is available at



www.poynter.org/offthenews/NextWar.htm



Coverage at:



http://www.rcfp.org/news/2002/1023concer.html





GENERAL FOI NEWS

THIS JUST IN FROM NCCPH: From Bruce Craig’s “NCC Washington Update” comes the following report:

“On October 9, 2002 the House Government Reform Committee approved legislation (H.R. 4187) "The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2002." If enacted, the bill will overturn President Bush's Executive Order 13233, "Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act." That controversial order, issued last November 1, creates new procedures for the release of presidential records that historians, archivists, and others maintain overstep the bounds of existing statutory authority embodied in
the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (PRA; P.L. 95-591). The bill passed out of the Committee unanimously on a voice vote with several Republican and Democratic members expressing their strong support for the measure.

The future of the bill remains in limbo, at least in the 107th Congress. With the session virtually over, few believe the measure will be scheduled for a full House vote. No companion bill has yet been introduced
in the Senate. Representative Steve Horn (R-CA), who was is the key sponsor of the bill and chairs the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, is also retiring this session. Full committee Chair Burton, however, remains committed to enacting legislation, whether it be in this session or during the next Congress.

In a letter to the Committee, the White House attacked the bill as "unnecessary and inappropriate, and, more importantly, unconstitutional." The Administration claimed that the Reagan Presidential records (that served as the catalyst for the legislation) have been released showing the bill is not needed. However, the constitutionality of the bill has yet to be decided: A lawsuit brought by Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of historians, archivists and scholars is still pending in federal court. The suit seeks to nullify the "draconian" provisions of the Bush executive order.

TRIBES TO TACKLE FOI BACKLOG: Responding to vehement external attacks and internal criticism, the BIA sent a plan to Congress on Oct. 2 for changing the federal process for recognizing Indian tribes. It primarily would increase funding and staff positions at the much-maligned Branch of Acknowledgement and Research (BAR), the body currently swamped by controversies over its huge backlog of tribal recognition petitions.The plan also deals with one cause of recent delays, prolonged court challenges and Freedom of Information Act requests from local and state politicians hostile to new recognitions. Outside contractors would be hired to handle the FOIA volume, which at one point was consuming more than one estimated man-work-year from the 11-person staff. Contractors would also take on tasks such as data entry and preparation of litigation records.

http://www.indiancountry.com/?1034110962



FIGHTING OVER FOIA: In a series of sharply worded letters -- including one to President Bush's White House counsel -- Richard W. Mallory, a former top federal official says he was fired to stop him from cracking down on misuse of p


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