On Jan. 24, 2003, a new law enforcement and investigatory agency whose duties include functions taken from as many as 22 other federal agencies came into existence. The reorganization of these operations reportedly marks the biggest government bureaucratic shake-up since the creation of the Department of Defense half a century ago.
Even before the new Department of Homeland Security opened its doors, controversies arose over not just how it would operate and exercise its powers, but what level of access to information it would allow, and how it would respond to news media requests. Will new exemptions be carved out of the FOI Act, either by law or by practice? Will officials and agents feel free to tap phones of journalists, or subpoena their records during investigations? Will the new director consider procedural safeguards, like those adopted years ago by the Department of Justice, to ensure that freedom of the press will not be denied? And will those practices be followed?

But "homeland" security is not the only concern for journalists covering anti-terrorism initiatives; military actions abroad often present a greater challenge, as questions over disclosure of information, access to troops, and restraints on reporting seem to resurface anew with each conflict.

Questions and issues like these led the Reporters Committee to launch this "weblog," so that there will be a centralized site on the Internet for journalists who want to follow these issues and pass along information they learn while covering — or worse, being covered by — the new department and other anti-terrorism actions. Please submit comments and pass along tips to make this project as useful, thorough and up-to-date as possible.

A few words about what this project will not do. We do not intend to cover many of the issues that will undoubtedly come up as the Department takes shape, even if those issues are the ones generating headlines. We will cover information access and free press issues, but will not follow debates over many civil liberties issues that, while important, are outside of our domain.

Funding for the launch of this site was provided by The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Jun. 30, 2003

BRITS INVESTIGATING WHETHER IRAQ INTELLIGENCE WAS MANIPULATED. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Friday that he stood by the accuracy of government intelligence that claimed Saddam Hussein could unleash an unconventional attack within 45 minutes. Straw said the ionformation had come from a "credible" source and denied that it had been added to the document to embellish the findings and support Prime Minister Tony Blair's argument that Iraq represented an immediate threat. The House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs is investigating charges that the government manipulated intelligence to exaggerate the menace that Iraq posed and to justify military action. At issue are two intelligence assessments put out in September and February. — Posted at 5:04 pm

Jun. 27, 2003

NO TORTURE FOR TERRORISM SUSPECTS. The Bush administration pledged Thursday for the first time that the United States will not torture terrorism suspects or treat them cruelly in an attempt to extract information, a move that comes as the deaths of two Afghan prisoners in U.S. custody are being investigated as homicides. The Washington Post reports that U.S. treatment of terror suspects and potential witnesses has been particularly obscure. The Bush administration typically prevents prisoners from contacting attorneys or asserting rights to fair treatment. In fact, U.S. authorities have refused to identify the large majority of detainees or release any information about them, arguing that such data could help terrorists. — Posted at 5:29 pm

APPEALS COURT DENIES GOVERNMENT MOTION IN MOUSSAOUI CASE. A federal appeals court Thursday rejected for the time being the Bush administration's request that it prohibit Zacarias Moussaoui from interviewing captured people linked to Al Qaeda to support his defense that he was not involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist plot. But the three-judge panel of the court, in Richmond, Va., left open the likelihood that it would revisit the issue. In rejecting the government's appeal, the court said a lower court's order to allow Mr. Moussaoui's lawyers to interview one captured Qaeda figure had not yet reached the stage at which it could be reviewed. The judges said that if and when the Justice Department went through with its threat to refuse to make any Qaeda figures available and the trial judge sanctioned the government, an appeals court could then consider intervening in the trial. Earlier this month, Frank W. Dunham Jr., representing Mr. Moussaoui, disclosed that at least one condition noted by the appeals court had occurred. He said Attorney General John Ashcroft had recently filed a secret affidavit in which he said that Mr. bin al-Shibh would not be made available for defense testimony. — Posted at 5:20 pm

Jun. 26, 2003

SAUDI CITIZEN DETAINED IN VIRGINIA. Today's Arizona Daily Star reported that University of Arizona student Muhammad Al-Qudhai'een is being held in secret by federal authorities in a Virginia jail. Al-Qudhai'een, who is from Saudi Arabia, was taken into custody by the FBI June 13 and transferred to Virginia as a material witness. He appeared in a federal court Wednesday in Alexandria, Va., and is scheduled to attend a bond hearing Friday. The outcome of Wednesday's hearing was not made public. — Posted at 6:36 pm

ARIZONA STUDENT DETAINED. A University of Arizona student from Saudi Arabia who filed a lawsuit against America West Airlines in 1999 alleging racial profiling has been taken into custody by the FBI. Muhammad Al-Qudhai'een's wife, Mohdi, said FBI agents took her husband June 13. Despite her repeated calls and questions, officials refuse to say why he's been taken into custody or where he is. — Posted at 6:31 pm

ARIZONA STUDENT DETAINED. A University of Arizona student from Saudi Arabia who filed a lawsuit against America West Airlines in 1999 alleging racial profiling has been taken into custody by the FBI, the Arizona Daily Star reported Sunday. Muhammad Al-Qudhai'een's wife, Mohdi, said FBI agents took her husband June 13. Despite her repeated calls and questions, officials refuse to say why he's been taken into custody or where he is. — Posted at 6:31 pm

SECRET RECORDS QUESTION LINK BETWEEN BIN LADEN AND SADDAM HUSSEIN. Newsweek reports this week that hundreds of pages of confidential German law-enforcement records raise new questions about the Bush administration's core evidence purporting to show solid links between Osama bin Laden's terror network and Saddam Hussein's regime. The secret German records seem to undercut highly touted administration claims that Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, a hardened Jordanian terrorist who once received medical treatment in Baghdad, was a key player in Al Qaeda. — Posted at 6:23 pm

GUANTANAMO TRIBUNAL FACILITY INCLUDES MEDIA CENTER. The Pentagon's Southern Command said Wednesday that the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is prepared to stage military tribunals against terror suspects. The Miami Herald reports that the infrastructure at America's first-ever offshore detention center for terror suspects has been in place since April and includes a media center, possibly making it more likely the Defense Department will allow reporters to cover the tribunals. — Posted at 6:07 pm

Jun. 25, 2003

WIDENING CONCERNS. According to a CNET News report, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has asked the Pentagon to respond to 11 questions about the scope of the Terrorist Information Awareness data-mining project, originally named the Total Information Awareness project. Wyden authored a bill that passed in January, which put greater restrictions on the project and required the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to do a report on what TIA would cover. Concerned over widespread tracking of Americans' personal information, Wyden asked for more details on what sorts of information will be gathered and how it will be used and analyzed. Last week, Security Focus News reported on legislation introduced in the House of Representatives would require the Justice Department to keep track of surveillance orders: The Surveillance Oversight and Disclosure Act (SODA). — Posted at 7:05 pm

EVIDENCE USED IN SECRET HEARINGS REVEALED. When Mohamed Atriss was arrested on charges of terrorism, he was not able to see the evidence prosecutors collected against him. He was held for six months in a Passaic County, New Jersey jail and released after pleading guilty to selling false identification cards. "Today, the superior court judge who took the secret evidence last November unsealed the hearing transcript, revealing that the allegations were based largely on inaccurate information that Atriss and his lawyer said they could have rebutted, if only they had been allowed to see it," reported The Washington Post . — Posted at 7:01 pm

TAKE THAT PICTURE, LOSE THAT CAMERA The U.S. military has cordoned off an area in an Iraqi village known for its loyalty to the former government of Saddam Husseina and evicted five families who were bombed out. But it refuses to say what is going on, despite casualties among the villagers, The New York Times reports today. Military transports with earth-moving equipment arrived at the site near the Syrian border leading to speculation that the military may be thinking of building a base there. Specialist Arthur Myers told journalists, "Stop right there. If you take a picture, I will break your camera." — Posted at 6:12 pm

Jun. 24, 2003

HOMELAND INSECURITY. A GAO report released today found that the National Nuclear Security Administration has not effectively secured critical nuclear facilities, specifically nuclear weapons facilities, in the wake of September 11. GAO outlined four problems areas for the NNSA: defining roles and responsibilities for its operations, assessing security at each site, overseeing "contractors corrective actions" and allocating adequate numbers of staff. "Without effectively managing its safeguards and security program, NNSA cannot be assured that its contractors are working to maximum advantage to protect its nuclear weapons sites. These sites may have critical materials that could be prime terrorist targets," the report said. Reports such as these demonstrate why open-records advocates say information about what the government is doing is so important to the public, and that we cannot necessarily trust that every agency is doing its job. — Posted at 7:02 pm

SOLDIERS ASK 'PURPOSE' OF STORY Editor & Publisher reports that while the Associated Press tried to view hospital and other records to establish some count of civilians in Iraq killed during the war, its Baghdad correspondent Sameer N. Yacoub was "challenged by U.S. soldiers, who questioned him extensively about his story, including its purpose." The U.S. military does not tally civilian deaths. — Posted at 7:00 pm

OVERCLASSIFICATION: MORE THAN JUST AN INFORMATION PROBLEM. Newhouse News writer Chuck McCutcheon examines the unending problems of overclassification. It does more than deprive the public of information. Some records have been so highly classified they could not be shared among agencies investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks. Critics of overclassification say it costs taxpayers billions of dollars while preventing law enforcement officials from getting details about terrorist threats. He quotes Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who says of 90 per cent of what he reads: "What's classified about that?" Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts ( R-Kan.) shares Goss's concerns. — Posted at 6:58 pm

BARNEY FRANK CHALLENGES CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE INFORMATION BAN. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announced Monday the introduction of his bill titled Restoration of the Freedom of Information Act to limit the protections for critical infrastructure information in the Homeland Security Act enacted in November. Frank says he recognizes the need to protect information about some vulnerabilities from terrorists but that the Act, by not clearly defining "critical infrastructure information" and "voluntarily submitted" is too broad and allows companies to also keep information about key health and safety issues secret. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) co-sponsored the bill (H.R. 2526) It is a companion to one introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). — Posted at 4:23 pm

EXECUTIVE ORDER SIGNED BY BUSH. President Bush signed an Executive Order Monday designating a Qatari man, Ali S. Marri, as an enemy combatant. Click here to read the Executive Order. — Posted at 1:33 pm

DEMOCRACY DEMANDS AN HONEST AND ACCURATE REPORT OF IRAQI THREAT. The June 30 issue of The New Republic reports there was no consensus within the American intelligence community before the war with Iraq that Saddam represented a grave and imminent threat. Rather, interviews with current and former intelligence officials and other experts reveal that the Bush administration culled from U.S. intelligence those assessments that supported its position and omitted those that did not. The administration ignored, and even suppressed, disagreement within the intelligence agencies and pressured the CIA to reaffirm its preferred version of the Iraqi threat. Similarly, it stonewalled, and sought to discredit, international weapons inspectors when their findings threatened to undermine the case for war. Three months after the invasion, John B. Judis and Spencer Ackerman report that the United States may yet discover the chemical and biological weapons that various governments and the United Nations have long believed Iraq possessed. But it is unlikely to find, as the Bush administration had repeatedly predicted, a reconstituted nuclear weapons program or evidence of joint exercises with Al Qaeda--the two most compelling security arguments for war. Whatever is found, what matters as far as American democracy is concerned is whether the administration gave Americans an honest and accurate account of what it knew. The evidence to date is that it did not, and the cost to U.S. democracy could be felt for years to come. — Posted at 12:21 pm

QATARI MAN DESIGNATED AS "ENEMY COMBATANT." A Qatari man described by federal prosecutors as an al Qaeda "sleeper operative" was designated an enemy combatant by President Bush yesterday, as the government dropped criminal charges against him and turned him over to the U.S. military. Ali S. Marri, who arrived in the United States the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was trained in computer hacking and the use of poisons, according to new information the United States has obtained from former al Qaeda operations chief Khalid Sheik Mohammed and another captured al Qaeda operative, prosecutors said. He was sent to the United States to help settle al Qaeda members arriving for follow-up attacks, the captives reportedly have told interrogators. Marri was transferred yesterday from a federal jail in Illinois to an undisclosed military brig, where he could be detained indefinitely without legal protections afforded to defendants in the court system and without contact with the outside world. He may eventually be brought before a military tribunal, officials told the Washington Post. Marri is the first terror suspect in the United States to be declared an enemy combatant after originally being charged in federal court. Civil libertarians say the enemy combatant designation circumvents a person's constitutional rights by curtailing access to lawyers and the right to confront accusers and call witnesses. — Posted at 12:11 pm

Jun. 23, 2003

"ENEMY COMBATANT" TRANSFERRED TO MILITARY. Another terrorism suspect has been transferred to the military's more secretive justice system as an "enemy combatant," apparently because he refused to cooperate with prosecutors or accept a guilty plea. Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has been in federal custody since late 2001, the Associated Press reports, first as a material witness and then on criminal charges of credit card fraud and lying to the FBI about phone calls placed to al Qaeda operatives. President Bush signed papers to make the enemy combatant designation official, and prosecutors dropped the criminal charges so al-Marri could be handed over to the military. — Posted at 6:46 pm

MORE ON MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. In more news on congressional hearings, The New York Times reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee has also "agreed to hold a hearing soon on the role played by a special Pentagon intelligence unit in the shaping of intelligence before the war." Sources told the Times that they would ask Douglas J. Feith, "an under secretary of defense, to testify about that unit, which worked under him, and which critics inside the intelligence community say issued reports that overstated the threat posed by Iraq." — Posted at 6:44 pm

IS U.S. SUPPORTER OR SUPPRESSOR OF FREE SPEECH IN IRAQ? The concept of democracy has taken hold in the Iraqi imagination, raising the possibility that it will inspire change throughout the Middle East. But the New York Times' David Rohde reports from Iraq that there is a problem: The United States isn't perceived as a cultivator of democracy here. It is seen as a military occupier that supports democracy and free speech when they serve its interest, but suppresses both when they don't. — Posted at 4:02 pm

INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HOLDS SECRET HEARINGS. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) says that he will hold three more secret hearings to review the possibility that the White House manipulated intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. According to an Associated Press report, the committee held one secret session last week, and the closed hearings "probably will be followed by an open hearing, which Democrats have demanded." At the end of it, "doubtlessly, we will have a public hearing. We'll make a public report and probably a classified report," Roberts said. The House Intelligence Committee is conducting a similar review on prewar weapons assessments, as is the Senate Armed Services Committee. — Posted at 12:06 pm

Jun. 20, 2003

NBC SAYS REPORT PROMPTED UNSEALING OF GUILTY PLEA. NBC News reported that yesterday's announced guilty plea from Iyman Faris was only unsealed after the network reported the plea Thursday morning. An official also told NBC News that Faris had been cooperating with interrogators since his arrest. — Posted at 5:35 pm

Jun. 19, 2003

UNSEALED GUILTY PLEA REVEALS SECRET JUSTICE SYSTEM. The Department of Justice today announced that a truck driver from Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty to felony charges of aiding terrorists and conspiring with terrorists while helping to plan several attacks in the U.S. But the surprising part of the story was that the entire process, from arrest to being charged to pleading guilty, occurred completely in secret. Iyman Faris entered his guilty plea on May 1 in federal court in Alexandria, Va., but it was unsealed only today. In the current issue of Newsweek, writers Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball had speculated about Faris' fate, noting that he had disappeared months ago. He had reportedly been fingered as an al Qaeda operative by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks. Sources told Newsweek that Faris "may be one of a small group of terror suspects who have been thrown into what one official calls 'a kind of limbo detention' -- a new category that seems to be evolving outside the orbit of the criminal-justice system." Today's announcement confirms that Justice is comfortable with exactly such a setup. — Posted at 5:42 pm

Jun. 18, 2003

BRITISH INVESTIGATION OF TRAILERS SUPPORTS BALLOON STORY. The Observer reports that "an official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist." This revelation has proved a "huge embarrassment" for the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "who has claimed that the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction and justified the case for going to war against Saddam Hussein." — Posted at 6:41 pm

ALABAMA CREATES ITS OWN DHS. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill creating the country's first state-level Department of Homeland Security. The department, created with a $1.26 million appropriation, will now receive the federal dollars coming into the state for homeland security, Riley said. The Associated Press reports that "instead of folding homeland security into the Department of Public Safety or the Alabama National Guard, the new law creates an agency in the governor's Cabinet. It will coordinate efforts to prevent terrorism, protect citizens and respond to acts of terrorism, using as a model the federal agency created after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon." The governor also said that the state needed this new department to protect the state's chemical plants, military operations and its busy port from terror attacks. — Posted at 6:34 pm

WMD KNOWLEDGE TO BE FOCUS OF HILL COMMITTEE. The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Wednesday "will hold its first hearing on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction since a flap erupted over whether top U.S. officials took a harder line on the issue before the war than was supported by solid intelligence," Reuters reports. Lawmakers on the House panel will question intelligence analysts at the closed-door hearing about the factors that went into compiling the National Intelligence Estimate reports on Iraq's weapons programs, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, The New York Times reveals that the "Defense Intelligence Agency said it was unlikely that Iraq would use unconventional weapons as long as there were United Nations sanctions against the country" in a classified report it issued last November. The DIA also asserted "that most analysts believed at the time that Iraq had some illegal weapons, but that Mr. Hussein was not likely to use them or share them with terrorists." — Posted at 6:34 pm

SLIPPING THROUGH THE GAP. A General Accounting Office study released today found gaps in the U.S. government's policy for revoking visas and notifying appropriate agencies about those revocations. The GAO noted that visa revocation can be a useful tool against terrorism, but not without proper policies for notifying border patrol and investigatory agencies. In this study, GAO found that the agencies responsible for handling visa revocations as an antiterrorism tool lacked any procedures to notify relevant agencies. According to the report: These agencies -- State, INS and FBI -- lacked "policies or procedures that covered investigating, locating, and taking appropriate action in cases where the visa holder had already entered the country." Of the 240 revocations examined, "30 individuals whose visas were revoked on terrorism grounds had entered the United States either before or after revocation and may still remain." INS and the FBI were not "routinely taking actions to investigate, locate, or resolve the cases of individuals who remained in the United States after their visas were revoked." GAO reviewed visas revoked by the U.S. State Department Sept. 11, 2001, through Dec. 31, 2002, on terrorism grounds. For each case, GAO gathered records to determine if and when "State notified INS and the FBI of the revocations. We also obtained information from these agencies to determine if, and when, they posted appropriate lookouts on their terrorist watch lists. We reviewed INS arrival and departure data to assess whether any of the individuals whose visas had been revoked had entered the United States either before or after revocation and whether they may still remain in the country." — Posted at 4:40 pm

DEPARTING SPOKESWOMAN THINKS "TRANSPARENCY WORKS." Victoria Clarke, the spokeswoman for the Defense Department who this week announced her resignation from that post, said the Pentagon wants to keep the embedding program that was employed during the latest Iraq war. "Transparency works. The good news gets out. The bad news gets dealt with quickly," said Clarke, according to a report in Editor & Publisher. She said embedding journalists with American troops in conflict zones may become an official Defense Department policy. — Posted at 4:39 pm

LEVIN: DECLASSIFY WEAPONS INFORMATION Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said the CIA should declassify information about what it told U.N. weapons inspectors about locations of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News reported that, at a press briefing, Levin said CIA director George Tenet "doesn't have any excuse now" to keep that information secret. Tenet had said he needed to adhere to secrecy agreements with the U.N., but U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix made known that he has no objection to the disclosures. Levin cited discrepancies between what the CIA told the public and what it told Congress in classified briefings and criticized Tenet for making public statements that "are not factually accurate." — Posted at 4:38 pm

SEPT. 11 FAMILIES ALLEGE BUSH COVERUP Some relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks are voicing outrage over what they say has been an extended attempt by the Bush administration to hide information about intellegence failures before the attacks, according to an article on the subscription-only site, Salon.com. Family members who met with FBI director Robert Mueller last week are demanding to know why a 900-page congressional study completed late last year has not been made public. Some suspect the declassification effort -- as well as the general effort to conduct internal investigations into the failures -- has been delayed not for national security reasons but rather to avoid embarrassment for the White House. Writes reporter Eric Boehlert: "The Warren Commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, was formed just seven days after President Kennedy was assassinated. Last February, after seven astronauts died when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated 200,000 feet above Texas, NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board was created 90 minutes after the incident ... By contrast, nearly two years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the 9/11 commission [lobbied for by victims' relatives] only recently opened up its New York City office." — Posted at 4:36 pm

Jun. 17, 2003

POST DELVES DEEPER INTO STORY OF LYNCH RESCUE. The Washington Post, first to report U.S. military sources saying that American soldier Jessica Lynch heroically fought off her captors, today published a detailed investigation into the facts of the Lynch capture and rescue. The Post reported: Lynch's story is far more complex and different than those initial reports. Much of the story remains shrouded in mystery, in large part because of official Army secrecy, concerns for Lynch's privacy and her limited memory. The Post's initial coverage attracted widespread criticism because many of the sources were unnamed and because the accounts were soon contradicted by other military officials. . . . The result [of the new Post investigation] is a second, more thorough but inconclusive cut at history. While much more is revealed about her ordeal, most U.S. officials still insisted that their names be withheld from this account. Lynch tried to fire her weapon, but it jammed, according to military officials familiar with the Army investigation. She did not kill any Iraqis. She was neither shot nor stabbed, they said. The Post also confirmed that when troops stormed an Iraqi hospital to rescue Lynch it was largely unguarded, and added, "Two U.S. officials with knowledge of the Army investigation said Lynch was mistreated by her captors. They would not elaborate." The account also questions parts of the story told by Mohammed Odeh Rehaief, an Iraqi lawyer who played a role in the rescue and who has been given political asylum in the U.S. — Posted at 8:05 pm

'NO ATTACK,' BUT THERE WAS. The New York Times reported today that a spokesman for Central Command had denied until 12 hours later the existence of skirmishes June 15 that left nine American soldiers wounded. After Reuters reported the attacks north of Baghdad, the spokesman, a petty officer in Tampa, Fla., said "there was no attack, it did not happen," according to the newspaper. — Posted at 7:13 pm

APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS SECRET DETENTIONS. Reversing a lower-court decision, a federal appeals court ruled today that the government did not have to disclose the names of more than 700 people detained in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. The 2-to-1 decision by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was a rebuff to the civil liberties and other groups (including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) that were challenging the Bush administration's refusal to provide the names and other information about people, mostly muslim and arab immigrants. The court agreed with the Justice Department that making that information public could "allow Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to map the course of the investigation." — Posted at 3:15 pm

NOTHING WRONG WITH AIRPLANE HUNT. The New York Times reports today that an internal Department of Homeland Security investigation "has found no evidence that the department did anything wrong when it agreed to assist in the search for a group of Texas Democratic lawmakers who had fled the state in a partisan dispute." The report by the department's inspector general found that the DHS "Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center in Riverside, Calif., became involved on May 12 in a hunt for a private plane believed to be carrying the lawmakers. But the report said there was 'every indication' that the department employee who began the search believed that he was looking for a plane that was missing or had crashed, not because he was motivated by any political concern." According to the Times, an edited transcript of the telephone call was released today as well. — Posted at 2:23 pm

Jun. 16, 2003

CLARKE TO DISEMBARK. Reuters reports today that the official credited with convincing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to embed reporters with troops in Iraq is leaving her post. Victoria Clarke is resigning as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, Rumsfeld announced today. According to the report, "Clarke will be replaced on an interim basis by Lawrence Di Rita, a special assistant to Rumsfeld, until a permanent replacement is nominated by the White House and confirmed by the U.S. Senate." — Posted at 7:24 pm

THE QUESTION OF OPEN HEARINGS. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) over the weekend hinted about the possibility of open hearings in the congressional examination of the intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but would go no further than promising eventual public hearings "if we think that is warranted," according to an AP account of a "Face the Nation" appearance. Senate Democrats have asked for open hearings and a public report once the review is completed. Roberts, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on the CBS show that the committee would also publish a secret report of its findings, but a public report probably would be released as well. — Posted at 6:13 pm

Jun. 13, 2003

OBFUSCATION ON CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. Boston Globe writer Derrick Z. Jackson examines a chronology of official obfuscation in response to questions about numbers of civilian casualties in Iraq, which the Associated Press recently pegged at 3,240. He quotes a general who said in late March that an investigation into a marketplace missile would be complete in "the next day or so"; another general two days later who claimed that "we are approaching closure" on the matter; that general's remarks April 1 that "it takes time" to be thorough; and the confirmation in June by a Central Command spokesman that there had never been an investigation. — Posted at 6:20 pm

WHITE HOUSE PHOTOS PAINT ROSY PICTURE IN PRESS REPORTS In a column on journalism ethics, Allan Wolper complains about the Bush administration's practice of distributing favorable photographs of the President to the press -- and the press's willingness to run the photos. According to Wolper, a recent White House picture of President Bush holding the hand of a wounded American soldier was circulated by the wire services and published in major newspapers. Complaining that the news organizations were "behaving like adjuncts of the White House," Wolper said the practice of using White House-approved photography gives the public a "distorted, Rose-Garden picture of the Bush Presidency." "We should be capturing our images with our own photographers," Wolper quotes award-winning journalist Michel duCille as saying. "We should be making our own journalistic decision making. We are getting pictures the White House wants us to have. They wouldn't give us something if it made them look bad." — Posted at 6:20 pm

SENATORS QUESTION FOURTH FBI INVESTIGATION. Three senior senators are raising questions about the FBI's decision to conduct a fourth internal investigation of an agent who aired concerns about the bureau's counterterrorism investigations, the Associated Press reports. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa "said in a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller that the FBI seems quick to launch such probes when agents speak out publicly". Hatch and Leahy noted that the FBI had already conducted three investigations into Robert Wright, and found no wrongdoing. Wright has spoken publicly against FBI actions, and has claimed that the Bureau stopped him from pursuing terror investigations in a more aggressive manner. — Posted at 6:17 pm

REPORT ON CBRN ATTACK QUESTIONED. In MSNBC's "Terror Watch," Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball question the basis for a report that "there is a high probability that Al Qaeda will attempt an attack using a CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear] weapon within the next two years. The report by the State Department's counterterrorism office was delivered to the United Nations Security Council over the weekend. Isikoff and Hosenball note that a CIA report posted a week ago for domestic law-enforcement agencies takes a more "measured" view, concluding that Al Qaeda's actual capabilities to use such weapons aree "primitive to nonexistent at best." — Posted at 6:16 pm

SECRECY WAS THE GREATEST OFFENSE Morton Halperin of the Open Society Institute and Ken Gude of the Center for National Security Studies conclude in an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times that the ultimate abuse of more than 700 immigrant detainees over the past 18 months was the shroud of secrecy ordered by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft over the entire process. — Posted at 5:23 pm

Jun. 12, 2003

COURT AGREES TO EXPEDITE PADILLA HEARING. CNN reports that the federal court of appeals in New York (2nd Cir.) has agreed to expedite the appeal of Jose Padilla, the alleged "dirty bomber" held as an enemy combatant for over a year now in a Navy brig without a trial. The appeals hearing, however, still will not take place until at least October, the network reported. Padilla is challenging the government's decision that he doesn't have the right to meet with lawyers because he is not in the criminal justice system. Defense attorney Donna Newman complained about the lack of access to her client. "There is the criminal justice system. There is a military justice system. He is in neither," she said. "A citizen is still being held incommunicado without charges being filed, based on the government's assertion that they can do it." A federal judge had ruled that Padilla should be able to meet with lawyers to contest the "enemy combatant" designation, and the government appealed. — Posted at 4:46 pm

Jun. 11, 2003

RULES CENSOR BURGEONING IRAQI MEDIA. The Los Angeles Times and the Index on Censorship examine rules that occupation officials are imposing on what Iraq's new media outlets can report. The U.S. administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, L. Paul Bremer, issued "Order No. 7" on May 28 which, for purposes including "the importance of the provision of accurate information," regulates what new Iraqi media can say. They cannot, for instance, incite or promote violence; racial, ethnic or religious hatred, or disorder, rioting or property damage. They cannot advocate support for the Baath party. The order also prohibits information that "is patently false and is calculated to promote opposition to the CPA or undermine legitimate processes toward self government." Violaters can be jailed up to a year or fined up to $1,000 and media organizations can be closed down. The policy may get its first test in a controversy started in Suwaira, a town south of Baghdad, where one new newspaper initially claimed a group of U.S. soldiers raped two girls, according to an AFP report on a South African news site. Central Command's response, according to the news service: "After conducting a thorough investigation into this supposed account, we know this report is inaccurate, irresponsible, and purposefully attempts to damage the credibility of our forces and our efforts to create a secure and stable environment for the people of Iraq. . . . The As-Saah newspaper clearly and blatantly abused its recently attained freedom to report responsibly to the Iraqi people." The paper later retracted the story, saying its two reporters had repeated local rumors without confirmation. — Posted at 7:37 pm

SENATE COMMITTEE WILL CHECK ADMINISTRATION ON INTELLIGENCE REPORTS. The CNN Washington Bureau reported today that the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold closed door hearings to address questions of whether the administration skewed intelligence reports to support its case for the war in Iraq. Sen Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said at a news conference that he had seen no evidence that the executive branch had inflated its assessment of intelligence but that the allegations must be addressed. Democrats on the committee had hoped for public hearings. — Posted at 7:04 pm

Jun. 10, 2003

IRAQI CASUALTIES. A survey conducted by The Associated Press and based on records from 60 of Iraq's 124 hospitals estimates that at least 3,240 civilians died during the recent conflict in Iraq. "Even if hospital records were complete, they would not tell the full story for this nation of 24 million people. Many dead were never taken to hospitals. They were either buried quickly by their families in accordance with Islamic custom, or lost under rubble." According to the AP, the survey "excluded all counts done by hospitals whose written records did not distinguish between civilian and military dead, which means hundreds, possibly thousands, of victims in Iraq's largest cities and most intense battles aren't reflected in the total." According to the report: "The U.S. military did not count civilian casualties because 'our efforts are focused on military tasks,' said Lt. Col. Jim Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman. The British Defense Ministry said it didn't count casualties either." — Posted at 5:23 pm

REDEFINING THE EXISTENCE OF IRAQI WEAPONS. Washington Post writer Dana Millbank discusses a time line of statements by the President concerning the existence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, from the eve of the war when "intelligence leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised," through remarks yesterday that he was convinced that Iraq had a "weapons program." — Posted at 4:58 pm

Jun. 9, 2003

CHOOSE WHAT'S PUBLIC, WHAT'S NOT New York Times writer James Risen examines the government's public pronouncements on links between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein against its silence on claims by captured Al Qaeda operatives that Osama bin Laden rejected pursuit of any relationship with the Iraqi dictator. Risen quotes one intelligence official's views that there was a "serious question of to what extent did they try to align the facts with the conclusions that they wanted," The official said, "Things pointing in one direction were given a lot of weight, and other things were discounted." — Posted at 7:36 pm

LYNCH STORY DEBUNKING DEBUNKED. Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down," speculates in The New York Times that the Pentagon did not manufacture inflated stories of the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital and did not even like those stories. The Pentagon was quick to acknowledge that there had been no resistance from captors in her rescue, he writes, contending that the stories that emerged came from "the fog of war." He said, "If the Pentagon had wanted to manufacture a bogus firefight surely they could have done better." — Posted at 7:34 pm

POWELL DEFENDS INTELLIGENCE. The Administration continues to deny reports that it exaggerated Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction capability. According to The New York Times, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice denied reports that intelligence was "twisted" to justify an attack on Iraq. Powell also claimed that mobile biological laboratories found by "American forces bore great resemblance to those he described to the United Nations in February." However, as the Times notes, there is no evidence to suggest that the labs were used to produce "the critical materials for biological weapons." — Posted at 7:32 pm

WE DON' T RELEASE THINGS LOTS OF TIMES. "There are lots of times, especially in international intelligence security matters, when we don't release things because it's not in the national interest to do so," Attorney General John Ashcroft told a House Judiciary hearing June 5. The Department of Justice advises all other federal agencies on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act which requires that, in response to requests, the government must release any information unless it falls within an exemption. There is no exemption for "not in the national interest." Ashcroft's remarks were made in response to criticism that the Justice Department has not released a report on Wen Ho Lee. It has denied a Freedom of Information Act request for the report made by the Federation of American Scientists. On June 5 a departmental spokesman told the Associated Press that some of that report may yet be declassified and released, according to the FAS report. — Posted at 7:09 pm

REPORT WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO HEAR. Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham of Florida campaigning in Iowa Saturday accused the Bush administration of misrepresenting intelligence information about weapons of mass destruction and withholding uncertainties about Iraqi weapons stockpiles that appear in classified CIA and Defense Intelligence reports. Graham, the lead Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the committee never heard of doubts that the weapons existed. A declassified report to the committee favored only what the administration wanted, he said. In response to recent allegations, The New York Times reports that the Pentagon's top policy adviser, Douglas Feith, "held an unusual briefing today to rebut accusations that senior civilian policy makers had politicized intelligence to fit their hawkish views on Iraq and to justify war on Saddam Hussein." The Times also quoted defense officials familiar with classified intelligence assessments on Iraq, who disputed Feith's assesment that the intelligence analysis process on Iraq was not politicized. Several intelligence officials "said they were baffled or angered by [Feith's] remarks," one referring to his comments as "doublespeak." — Posted at 6:25 pm

FEDERAL AGENCIES RELYING MORE ON FOIA'S PRIVACY EXEMPTION. Federal agencies are increasingly using claims of privacy when they deny requests under the Freedom of Information Act, according to a study released last week at the Investigative Reporters and Editors national conference in Washington, D.C. The study of FOIA annual reports from the 13 Cabinet-level departments in existence as of Sept. 30, 2002, showed that nearly two in three denials over the past five years were based at least partly on exemptions relating to privacy. Meanwhile, despite the war on terrorism, national security claims were asserted in only about 1 percent of all denials of access to federal documents and records. — Posted at 5:16 pm

JOURNALISTS RUSH TO PUBLISH IN BAGHDAD. Dozens of daily and weekly newspapers have sprung up in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April, a raucous rush of unfettered expression that is utterly new to this country, and rare for any part of the Middle East. The Washington Post reports that Iraqi journalists estimate there are now 70 publications in Baghdad alone. All of the papers advocate an independent Iraq and most seem to favor democratic-style reforms, alternating between condemnation of the American presence in the country and revisiting the sins of Saddam. Meanwhile, L. Paul Bremer III, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, suggested that the new newspapers and radio stations should register. "We're trying to establish a mechanism for registering if you want to start newspaper, or a radio station." Bremer said the suggestion was "not a matter of trying to control the media but more 'a question of having some orderly process by which one registers newspaper or magazine, as you'd have in any other country.'" — Posted at 2:51 pm

OVERZEALOUS DETENTIONS ARE NOT NEW. The Justice Department's inspector general's report released last week paints a stark picture of immigration practices previously kept secret. Though innocent of terrorism, more than a thousand detainees were all treated as terrorists. They were held in secret and tried in secret on routine immigration charges. To this day, the government refuses to disclose their names. Many were held in 23-hour-a-day lockdown. They were initially barred from communicating with each other and the outside world, including lawyers. In a Sunday op-ed in The Washington Post, Georgetown University law professor David Cole reminds readers that this is not the first time an overzealous investigation was mounted in the name of fighting terrorism. In 1919, the government went into "preventive" mode with the "Palmer Raids," arresting thousands of foreign nationals. — Posted at 2:22 pm

Jun. 5, 2003

COURT ALLOWS IRAQI CONTRACTS RULE LAPSE FOR "NATIONAL SECURITY." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to comply with Federal Acquisition Regulations in granting a no-bid contract, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., ruled, and did not show that national security required the issuance of no-bid contracts. However, the court said that because the contractor bringing suit did not show that national security would not be harmed through regular bid letting procedures, it would not grant a permanent injunction prohibiting no-bid contracting. In its decision reached in late May -- but only made public this week after allowing the parties time to propose redactions -- the court ruled that the Al Ghanim Combined Group, which performs government contract work in Kuwait, was accurate in its complaints that it was qualified to bid for a construction contract for temporary quarters in Iraq and that the government had not followed the rules in issuing a bidless contractbids and without publication of any cost analysis to justify it. Several members of Congress have voiced concerns that the public has no explanation of why federal agencies are awarding no-bid contracts. Suffern, N.Y., attorney Sam Gdanski, who argued for Al Ghanim, said that the court's ruling that, except for the war in Iraq, the government would be accountable, may make the government pay closer attention to the rules next time. — Posted by Rebecca Daugherty, FOI Service Center Director, 8:13 pm

SENATOR EXPRESSES INCREDULITY. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Senate Foreign Relations members were frustrated when administration witnesses were unable to provide costs and other details of the Iraqi reconstruction undertaking at a hearing. Among them was Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) who "expressed incredulity" when the committee was told that the number of troops in Iraq is classified, AP reported. — Posted at 7:42 pm

REPORT EXAMINES TERRORISM INVESTIGATIONS EFFECTS ON FIRST AMENDMENT. The Constitution Project's Liberty and Security initiative, launched soon after the events of September 11, released a report Wednesday showing that the First Amendment is affected by the policies adopted in response to the terrorist attacks. The government's refusal to release the names of the detainees, the FBI's new powers to gather information before a crime has been committed, and new federal agency guidance on the Freedom of Information Act are among actions the report examines. Signatories include First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, Georgetown law professor David Cole, American Conservative Union chair David Keene, Open Society Institute director Morton Halperin, former D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Patricia Wald, Free Congress Foundation Chair Paul Weyrich, and Rutherford Institute president John Whitehead. — Posted at 7:06 pm

Jun. 4, 2003

OCCUPATION AUTHORITY WORKS ON MEDIA CODE. The Associated Press reports that the U.S.-led occupation authority is writing a code of conduct for the Iraqi news media, prompting complaints from journalists in that country. "They plan to set up a committee and some jerks will be on it," said Mohamad Jubar, the editor in chief of the daily newspaper Al-Manar, which was visited by U.S. troops who sought comments on media monitoring efforts. "I'll fight any attempt at censorship." Coalition officials respond that the code is not a form of censorship, but, in AP's words, is meant "only to stifle intemperate speech that could incite violence and hinder efforts to build a civil society." An advisor to the authority told the AP, "There's no room for hateful and destabilizing messages that will destroy the emerging Iraqi democracy. All media outlets must be responsible." Officials also say they are not censoring criticism of the occupation in the news media, pointing to critical stories that have aired on Iraqi TV. According to the AP, "Journalists there say they're allowed -- and even encouraged -- to criticize the occupation authority responsibly. " The article also points out the confusing steps taken toward media control. Even as the occupation authority started drafting its policy, the State Department convened a meeting in Greece to discuss such a policy. Neither group knew of the other's efforts. — Posted at 5:51 pm

Jun. 3, 2003

U.S. WILL FUND IMAGE TV IN IRAQ Fueled by the administration's view that Arabic news broadcasts damage the United States image, and its funding to counteract that damage, Norman Pattiz, chairman of Westwood One radio, plans to lure Iraqi viewers from al Jazeera and state run news media when he launches the Middle East Television Network, a U.S.-based, 24-hour satellite news and entertainment channel, later this year. In an interview with Government Executive, Pattiz said middle east airwaves are clogged with "hate speak . . . disinformation [and] incitement to Anti-western violence." He plans to broadcast news and family entertainment. The network, which will receive $30 million, is the second news outlet in Iraq to be funded by U.S. dollars. — Posted at 6:44 pm

KUCINICH: RESOLVE LYNCH STORY WITH UNEDITED FOOTAGE Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on June 2 asked the Pentagon to release unedited footage of the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital to resolve conflicting stories as to whether the dangers facing the rescuers were exaggerated to make better television. "As you can see," he wrote, "there is a wide gap between the facts as reported initially and the manner in which they are being reported now. As I understand the Defense Department's position, these recent accounts are 'outrageous, patently false and unsupported by the facts.' At the same time, Defense Department officials now seem to be qualifying their earlier statements." — Posted at 5:36 pm

Jun. 2, 2003

IG REPORT ON DETAINEE TREATMENT SHOWS LAPSES. The Justice Department's Inspector General's report on the treatment of aliens detained after the events of September 11 reports that the Bureau of Prisons gave the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York permission to destroy or reuse videotapes every 30 days. Security cameras regularly taped detainee movements outside their cells. The IG called the destruction decision, which could both support and refute allegations of abuse by the detainees, "unwise." Among the findings of the lengthy report was that the Bureau of Prisons did not provide adequate information about the location of the detainees to their attorneys or families and these polices hindered their ability to obtain and consult with legal counsel. This finding directly contradicts the letter from Justice's Director of Public Affairs to Time magazine earlier this month. Barbara Comstock wrote that these individuals "were provided access to lawyers . . . Those who could not afford a lawyer were given lists of lawyers who could provide fee legal services." And it also undermines comments made by Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh to the annual conference of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals last July: "Each and every single person we have taken into custody since Sept. 11 has been accorded the full panoply of rights," including the right to contact a lawyer, family members and the news media. — Posted at 7:43 pm

MAGAZINES REPORT ON DOUBTS ABOUT INTELLIGENCE. Recent reports show that many government officials and agencies questioned the quality of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs and that country's links to Al Qaeda. According to a report by US News & World Report, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a classified assessment in September 2002 concluding that "'There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons . . . .' At about the same time, Rumsfeld told Congress that Saddam's 'regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas.'" A Newsweek report concludes that in two reports to Powell, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) "concluded there was no reliable evidence that Iraq had restarted a nuclear program at all." The piece also outlines how evidence that the CIA used to try to show how "Saddam had attempted to buy up to 500 tons of uranium oxide from the African country of Niger" was deemed implausible by the INR. — Posted at 7:07 pm

CIA WANTS TO TARGET JOURNALISTS FOR LEAKS. In an unclassified memorandum, a senior CIA official called for targeting the news media for leaks, making them legally accountable for what they publish. They should be held responsibile for publicizing intelligence information they know is classified -- making it available to terrorists and other U.S. adversaries. And they should be responsible under present criminal statutes when they possess classified documents. Writing, he said, from his experiences with the Foreign Denial and Deception Committee, James B. Bruce called for amending the espionage statute to cover the intent to disclose information, not just the intent to damage the nation. MSNBC analyst Michael Moran notes that memoranda such as Bruce's provide a means for the CIA, which is not supposed to tamper in domestic politics, to go on record with Congress and the public. — Posted at 6:35 pm