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.

Sep. 30, 2003

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OPENS INVESTIGATION OF LEAK. The Justice Department has begun an investigation of allegations that senior White House officials leaked the identity of an undercover CIA operative, according to The Washington Post. White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales today instructed White House staff to preserve all materials that might be relevant to the Justice Department's investigation. According to CNN's David Ensor, as many as six journalists were told the name of the CIA clandestine operative, allegedly by senior administration officials. Columnist Robert Novak, who originally reported the name of the CIA operative, claims that he was not contacted by anyone in the White House, rather, the information came out during the course of an interview. News executives are concerned that the investigation could lead to subpoenas of journalists, as well as their notes and phone records, The Associated Press reports. — Posted at 3:34 pm

ANOTHER GUANTANAMO TRANSLATOR ARRESTED WITH SECRET DOCUMENTS. A physician working as a translator at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was arrested after being found with classified documents, according to The Associated Press. The physician, Ahmed Mehalba, was reportedly arrested by the FBI at Logan International Airport in Boston and, after being interrogated, was charged with making false statements. It was the third known arrest of a U.S. employee who had contact with the Guantanamo detainees. One of the three, Army chaplain Yousef Yee, was arrested Sept. 10 but has not been charged with a crime. — Posted at 3:13 pm

SUPREME COURT ASKED TO HEAR IMMIGRATION DETAINEE FOIA CASE. A coalition of constitutional and civil liberties groups, including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed a petition Monday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Justice Department's claims that it can secretly arrest hundreds of people and withhold their names and other information about them in the nationwide dragnet that occurred after September 11, 2001. Although a U.S. Ddistrict Court initially ruled that such information should be released, an appellate court ruled that the withholding of that information was legal. A dissenting judge explained that the court had effectively amended the Freedom of Information Act to allow the secrecy to stand. (Center for National Security Studies v. U.S. Dept. of Justice) — Posted at 3:07 pm

CII COMMENTS ON DHS WEB SITE. Last week the Department of Homeland Security posted public comments made on its proposed regulations to protect Critical Infrastructure Information. Initially the department had refused to post them claiming that it would wait until the final rules are published, but it changed that plan after hearing complaints from several interest groups. OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, described how it obtained the comments earlier and posted them Sept. 3 on its Web site. OMB Watch's comments appeared in OMB Watcher. The proposed rules allow the government to accept "voluntarily submitted" information from corporations and others outside the government concerning the vulnerabilities and the need to protect them -- and then keep that information secret from the people who might be affected. — Posted at 2:52 pm

MOUSSAOUI PROSECUTION RAISES SIXTH AMENDMENT QUESTIONS. In a Sunday editorial, The Washington Post urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reject the government's argument that Sept. 11 defendant Zacarias Moussaoui can fairly be tried without access to witnesses whose testimony could help his case, a protection normally guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment: "In any normal case, there is no question that the defense gets access to a witness in the custody of the federal government. But that right, according to the Justice Department, does not extend to al Qaida witnesses being held abroad. The government effectively asks for an exception to the right to call witnesses in deference to the war on terrorism. The appeals court should not grant it." The Post called upon Congress to consider alternative measures to balance Sixth Amendment rights against security concerns in terrorism cases, such as by qualifying the right to self-representation to avoid direct contact between defendants and suspected terrorists. — Posted at 09:05 am

LAWYERS FOR AIR FORCE INTERPRETER DENY SPYING CHARGES, COMPLAIN ABOUT SECRET HEARING. Military lawyers for Ahmad I. Halabi, the Air Force translator accused of trying to provide Syria with classified information about the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, acknowledge that Halabi had plane tickets to Syria but say it was for a family wedding, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. In a prepared statement, Halabi's attorneys also complained that Halabi was subjected to a secret Article 32 hearing (the military equivalent of a probable cause hearing) and barred from communicating with family members in Arabic. On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that Halabi had been under investigation even before he was assigned to Guantanamo. Military officials were unable to explain why he was nonetheless assigned to a position in which he had contact with al Qaida and Taliban detainees. Click here to read the September 16 order by the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals quashing a blanket order closing Halabi's Article 32 hearing to the public. — Posted at 09:03 am

Sep. 29, 2003

ANTHRAX LAWSUIT MAY FORCE GOVERNMENT'S HAND A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of an anthrax victim may force the government to reveal sensitive information about its investigation into the fall 2001 attacks, reports Kathy Bushouse of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Maureen Stevens, whose husband Bob was the first fatality in the attacks, alleges that the government negligently failed to respond after anthrax samples went missing from an Army laboratory in Fort Detrick, Md., as early as 1992. The lawsuit gives Stevens subpoena authority for documents relating to her claims, making it more difficult for the government to avoid providing information about its investigation through blanket assertions of national security. The government's investigation appears to be stalled, with no arrests after two years. — Posted at 5:59 pm

POLICE SAY THEY CAN'T TELL THE PUBLIC ABOUT AIRPORT INCIDENTS WITHOUT FEDERAL PERMISSION. Des Moines, Iowa, police are worried that an agreement with the Transportation Safety Authority prevents them from releasing any information about incidents that occur at airports without federal permission, reports The Des Moines Register. Police say they were required to sign the agreement in order to receive federal funds from the TSA, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security. "Passing on information can quell a lot of fear in the community. But right now if we did, we could put ourselves in a position that charges could be filed on us," says Lt. David Huberty. — Posted at 4:43 pm

NEW SECURITY LAWS THREATENING CIVIL RIGHTS. The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism, according to the New York Times. The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said. Justice Department officials say they are simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals - terrorists or otherwise. But critics of the administration's antiterrorism tactics assert that such use of the law is evidence the administration is using terrorism as a guise to pursue a broader law enforcement agenda. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee has begun a multi-part series explaining to its readers the broad-reaching impact of the Patriot Act and other new terrorism-related laws. "The government has secret lists governing who can and cannot get on an airplane, secret surveillance of e-mail and the Internet, and new warrants allowing the government to search your home, your bank records and your medical files without your knowledge," the paper reported Sunday. — Posted at 2:28 pm

PENTAGON ATTEMPTS TO HIDE MONEY FROM CONGRESS, The Pentagon requested that U.S. Special Operations Command at McDill Air Force Base insert an extra $20 million into its budget in order to hide the money from Congress, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The additional funding requests were divided among a number of different programs so as to not attract attention, and Soouthern Command staffers were instructed not to highlight or discuss them in meetings with Congress, and were also told that such requests by the Pentagon were not unusual. — Posted at 2:15 pm

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS OF WHITE HOUSE LEAK. At the request of CIA Director George Tenet, the Justice Department is investigating allegations that top White House officials leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent to the press in violation of federal law. According to The Washington Post , a senior administration official said that two White House officials called and told at least six journalists the identity of the agent. The agent, whose name was first leaked in July 2003, is the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. Wilson, who was sent to Africa last year by the CIA to investige intelligence claims that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Niger, publicly criticized the Bush administration for its misuse of intelligence to inflate the threat posed by Iraq. Many believe that the leak was an attempt to discredit Wilson's challenge, meant to insinuate that his mission was the result of his wife's recommendation, according to the Post. In another Washington Post article, media reporter Howard Kurtz discussed the the dilemna faced by news organizations that receive sensitive information and the suspicion reporters may have about the motives of White House informants. The New York Times reports today that the very fact that Director Tenet referred the matter to the Justice Department comes as a major political embarrassment to a White House that is famously tight-lipped, and a president who has repeatedly vowed that his administration would never leak classified information. White House officials said Sunday that they would cooperate in an investigation if the Justice Department decided that one was merited. — Posted at 1:57 pm

SENATORS SEEK TO LIMIT NO-BID CONTRACTS. Reuters reports that a bill introduced by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore) would limit no-bid government contracts for work in Iraq, such as the one that has earned Halliburton $1.2 billion to date. The bill, which Collins and Wyden want as a condition to President Bush's $87 billion Iraq spending request, would require that Congress receive notice and an explanation when a no-bid or limited-bid contact is sought. "The Iraqi contract process looks like Dodge City before the Marshalls showed up," Wyden said. "It just doesn't pass the smell test to have companies not be part of the competitive bidding process." — Posted at 09:52 am

Sep. 26, 2003

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COBBLES TOGETHER AN "OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT." Findlaw columnist John Dean writes that President George W. Bush has created the equivalent of an official secrets act for America by cobbling together provisions from existing laws. Dean says Bush's Justice Department has effectively created one of the world's most encompassing, if not draconian, official secrets acts. Attorney General John Ashcroft has told Congress he wants a "comprehensive, coordinated, Government-wide, aggressive, properly resourced, and sustained effort" to deal with "the problem of unauthorized disclosures." — Posted at 4:29 pm

CHICAGO CONSIDERS PATRIOT ACT RESOLUTION. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Chicago would become the largest of 200 U.S. cities to oppose civil liberties "abuses" invoked by the USA Patriot Act under a resolution advanced by a City Council committee Thursday over the objections of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. — Posted at 4:13 pm

CONGRESS ELIMINATES FUNDS FOR SURVEILLANCE PROJECT. Congress has shut down the Pentagon's controversial data-mining project, the Terrorism Information Awareness program (TIA). On Sept. 25, the Senate passed a military spending bill that eliminates funds for the surveillance project, which operates under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), formerly headed by John Poindexter. Several TIA projects, however, will be shifted within DARPA and to other intelligence communities, according to Secrecy News and The New York Times . — Posted at 3:59 pm

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS DISMISSAL OF MOUSSAOUI CHARGES. In a tactical move designed to hasten appellate review, the Justice Department announced yesterday that it will not oppose a federal judge's dismissal of the indictment against Sept. 11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. "To present the issue most efficiently to the Court of Appeals ... we do not oppose [defense] counsel's suggestion that the appropriate action in this case is to dismiss the indictment," prosecutors said in court papers filed Thursday with Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Va. Similarly, lawyers for Moussaoui also requested dismissal as a sanction for the government's refusal to let Moussaoui interview captured al Qaida terrorits who may be able to provide exculpatory testimony. If Brinkema dismisses the indictment, the question of whether Moussaoui may be tried without access to the witnesses will go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. However, as noted by The New York Times and The Washington Post, a pro-Moussaoui ruling by the Fourth Circuit would likely prompt the government to move the case out of the civilian justice system altogether, and try him before a military tribunal. — Posted at 11:09 am

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TRUE PATRIOT ACT INTRODUCED BY KUCINICH. A group of member of Congress led by presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill to repeal controversial portions of the Patriot Act, The Plain Dealer reports. The bill, titled the Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act, opens with a quote from Franklin. "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." — Posted at 11:04 am

CARLISLE BARRACKS WEB BLOCKED, UNBLOCKED. Matt Miller of the Harrisburg, Penn., Patriot-News reported Thursday that Carlisle Barracks officials might have stopped blocking employee access to a commercial Web site that claims to uncover corruption in the military. Three weeks ago the Army post's spokesman Lt. Col. Merideth Bucher confirmed that militarycorruption.com, which posts a regular feature "Carlisle Barracks Capers" along with stories about other military bases and about the armed services, had been blocked from government work stations to "preserve morale, good order and discipline." Miller reported that Glenn MacDonald, editor in chief of the Arizona-based site, called the blocking "ham-handed censorship" but lauded a strong reaction to the attempt "to curtail our free speech." Bucher would not confirm that the site had been unblocked. — Posted at 09:14 am

Sep. 25, 2003

REUTERS DEMANDS COPY OF SHOOTING INVESTIGATION FINDINGS. The head of Britain's Reuters news agency has demanded that U.S. authorities release a full copy of the findings of their investigation into the fatal shooting of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana by American troops in Baghdad. In a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, released today, chief executive officer Tom Glocer expressed "deep dismay that neither Reuters nor Mazen Dana's family were properly informed of further developments in this case. Specifically, neither was advised directly of the completion and findings of your investigation, which were instead communicated in a haphazard way by a military spokesman responding to journalist questions in Baghdad," Glocer wrote. — Posted at 4:27 pm

CLARKE SAYS MORE REPORTERS SHOULD BE EMBEDDED. Former Pentagon spokewoman Torie Clarke tells USA Today's Peter Johnson that there's a link between fewer reporters embedded with the military in Iraq and the barrage of bad news coming from the Middle East. Clarke, who has joined CNN as a public policy analyst for Paula Zahn Now, says the Pentagon is "encouraging news organizations to send journalists" back to Iraq. "It's a simple rule," says Clarke, who resigned from her government post in June. "If good things are going on, you want to put a big spotlight on it. If bad things are going on, you similarly want to put a spotlight on it because then the issue can be dealt with and you can put it behind you more quickly." But right now, she says, Americans "don't have the complete picture of what's going on" in Iraq. — Posted at 3:49 pm

PROFESSORS SAY ASHCROFT IS PARANOID. Columbia University journalism professors Todd Gitlin and Jay Rosen take Attorney General John Ashcroft to task for avoiding print reporters during his Patriot Act speaking tour. In an Op/Ed in the Los Angeles Times, the professors say Ashcroft's avoidance of the print press reveals something important about this administration - the zealotry with which it goes about protecting itself from scrutiny. "This zealotry is linked with the paranoid streak that, as the historian Richard Hofstadter taught us long ago, runs like a bright thread through American history. Ashcroft's segregation of journalists is paranoid, in the sense Hofstadter meant, because it turns fantasies of persecution into a conspiracy among print reporters to deny the attorney general a fair hearing. So he denies them access." — Posted at 3:35 pm

SECRECY PERVADES FORMER SEPT. 11 DETAINEE'S HABEAS PROCEEDINGS Dan Christensen of the Miami Daily Business Review reports the story of Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel, an Algerian-born waiter in Florida who was detained for five months without charges after Sept. 11. Bellahouel was released in March 2002 but has since brought a habeas challenge to the government's ongoing effort to deport him. As Christensen details, Bellahouel's habeas proceedings have been shrouded in unusual secrecy at every stage. Most recently, Bellahouel's petition for review by the U.S. Supreme Court was "heavily censored, with entire pages blanked out" of the public version of the document, according to the article. — Posted at 2:13 pm

MOUSSAOUI LAWYERS SEEK DISMISSAL OF INDICTMENT. Attorneys for suspected Sept. 11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui have requested dismissal of his indictment as a sanction for the government's refusal to let him interview captured al Qaida members who could help his case, The New York Times reports. The federal judge overseeing the case, Leonie Brinkema of Alexandria, Va., has already ruled that the government must provide Moussaoui with access to the al Qaida witnesses. If the government continues to disobey her order, Brinkema could impose a variety of sanctions, including dismissing the indictment or removing the death penalty as a possible sentence. Attorney General John Ashcroft has repeatedly said the Moussaoui case might be moved to a military tribunal, an outcome that seems particularly likely if the indictment is dismissed. — Posted at 2:08 pm

Sep. 24, 2003

GUANTANAMO TRANSLATOR ACCUSED OF SPYING. The Pentagon acknowledged Tuesday that an Air Force translator who worked with suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has been charged with spying for Syria, according to The Associated Press, The Washington Post, and others. Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi was reportedly arrested July 23 and charged with over 30 offenses, including espionage and aiding the enemy. However, the Pentagon acknowledged the arrest only yesterday, after it was reported by CNN. The military's efforts to keep the case secret also included the unusual step of trying to hold a closed Article 32 hearing (the equivalent of a probable cause hearing) for al-Halabi on Sept. 15, The New York Times reports. Portions of the Article 32 hearing were opened to the public only after the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals intervened, the Times says. The al-Halabi announcement comes just three days after it was reported that an Army chaplain, James Yee, is being held on undisclosed charges relating to his contact with Guantanamo detainees. — Posted at 4:05 pm

ABC NEWS GOES INSIDE CAMP DELTA. ABC News reporter Kendra Gahagan today gave viewers a rare glimpse into the operations of Camp Delta, the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. military is holding some 660 prisoners the government has rounded up in the war on terrorism. Click here for a transcript of her report. — Posted at 3:39 pm

TECHNOLOGY GROUP OPPOSES ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENAS. The Center for Democracy and Technology released a background paper today supporting its opposition to expansion of administrative subpoena authority for the FBI in criminal terrorism cases. In CDT's view, administrative subpoena proposals represent a grab for unchecked executive power. The organizations contends the FBI does not need this authority to combat terrorism effectively. — Posted at 3:30 pm

CORALLO NAMED JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Tuesday that Mark Corallo has been appointed the Director of Public Affairs for the Justice Department, replacing Barbara Comstock, who resigned. Corallo has served as the Principal Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the Justice Department since March 2002. — Posted at 3:26 pm

MILITARY'S RESPONSE TO JOURNALIST'S DEATH PROVOKES ANGER AND DISMAY. Reuters officials say they are dismayed at how U.S. authorities have handled the investigation of the Aug. 17 shooting death of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana by U.S. soldiers. Neither Reuters or Dana's family were informed of the results of the investigation prior to comments made Sept. 22 by a U.S. spokesman in response to questions by journalists. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders called the military's investigation a "sham." RSF Secretary General Robert Menard criticized the military's refusal to release more than the conclusion of the investigation: "This casualness, combined with the absence of measures to prevent more tragedies, is an insult to the journalists who have been victims of the U.S. army's blunders." — Posted at 3:13 pm

Sep. 23, 2003

BUSH ADMINISTRATION WANTS MORE MONEY FOR IRAQ. The Bush administration wants $100 million for an Iraqi witness protection program, $290 million to hire, train and house thousands of firefighters, $9 million to modernize the postal service, including establishment of ZIP codes. A Bush administration document, distributed to members of Congress and obtained by The Associated Press, goes far beyond the details officials have publicly provided for how they would spend the $20.3 billion they have requested for Iraqi reconstruction. The 53 pages of justifications flesh out the size of the task of rebuilding the country, almost literally brick by brick. It also paints a painstaking picture of the damage Iraq has suffered. The New York Times reported that Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, accused the Bush administration of conducting a "snow job" on the public by not providing more information about the need for reconstruction funds. Senator Byrd got into a testy exchange during a hearing with Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer and the chairman, Ted Stevens of Alaska, when he learned that Bremer would not be returning for another session with the committee. "You don't have time, and yet you want $20 billion," Byrd said, recalling that the administration asked for $79 billion for the war last spring. "When it came to the president's last supplemental bill for Iraq, Congress could not get straight answers from the administration on the expected cost or the expected duration of the Iraq operation," Byrd said. "We cannot afford to settle for evasions this time around." — Posted at 5:22 pm

IRAQI GOVERNING COUNSEL BANS ARAB TELEVISION REPORTERS. The U.S.-appointed government in Iraq has banned two of the Arab world's most popular TV channels, UPI reported Tuesday. The Iraqi Governing Council reportedly voted in a private session to expel reporters from the al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya satellite stations for allegedly inciting violence in Iraq and supporting insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition. The move leaves Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Baghdad, facing an acute dilemma - whether to enrage the Arab world by approving the resolution or to veto it and risk a confrontation with his most senior Iraqi supporters. According to reports from the BBC and AFP, the resolution called for reporters on the two channels to be banned from Iraq for one month pending a review of their broadcasts. — Posted at 5:16 pm

DIFFERING VIEWS OF THE PATRIOT ACT. Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says the government has "repeatedly made false statements about the Patriot Act, presumably to deceive listeners into thinking the act gives the government less unilateral power than it actually does." Romero's speech on Friday was reported in Wired.com. Meanwhile, a USA Today editorial in support of the Patriot Act says that "for all of the furor stirred up by the administration's request, two reassuring facts have been overlooked: Not only does the federal government have a history of using the same powers responsibly, but tools exist to ensure that anti-terror investigations are conducted properly." — Posted at 4:38 pm

9-11 COMMISSION RELEASES PROGRESS REPORT. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, the 10-member bipartisan commission set up by Congress and initially opposed by President Bush, released an interim progress report today. The report cites "significantly improved" response by the Executive Branch to Commission requests for information. Executive Branch response to the Commission has been criticized, particularly the use of official "minders" during interviews, The Washington Times reports. The Commission is midway through the 18-month study and reports that it will be completed on schedule. — Posted at 4:29 pm

MILITARY REFUSES TO RELEASE REPORT CLEARING U.S. SOLDIERS IN JOURNALIST'S DEATH. The CBC reports that the U.S. military has refused to release a report clearing U.S. soldiers of wrongdoing in the shooting death of Reuters TV camerman Mazen Dana in Iraq last month. A military spokesman says that the soldiers, who thought Dana's camera was a grenade launcher, acted within the rules of engagement but refused to make public the findings of the report or even what rules of engagement the soldiers were acting under. — Posted at 4:20 pm

Sep. 22, 2003

MUSLIM U.S. ARMY CHAPLAIN IS DETAINED Military officials have detained a Muslim army chaplain who had been counseling prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base, according to reports first published by The Washington Times, but the New York Times points out that military and law enforcement officials refuse to discuss the reasons for his arrest. The chaplain, Capt. James Yee, has been held without charges since Sept. 10 in a naval brig in South Carolina. — Posted at 6:01 pm

CLASSIFICATION AUTHORITY UPPED FOR SCIENCE ADVISOR The Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was granted authority to classify information "Top Secret" by President Bush on Sept. 17, the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News reported. The science advisor had previously held authority only to classify up to the "Secret" level. The publication noted that new classification authority has been delegated over the past two years to the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture and to the Environmental Protection Agency. — Posted at 5:06 pm

Sep. 19, 2003

BUSH ADMISSION GETS LITTLE PLAY. President Bush's admission that there was "no evidence that Hussein was involved with the September 11th" attacks, coming in response to criticism of V.P. Dick Cheney's comments on a Sunday talk show, received little attention by the media, Editor & Publisher reports. Cheney had said that "it's not surprising that people make that connection [between Iraq and 9/11]. ... If we're successful in Iraq then we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." — Posted at 5:57 pm

ASHCROFT: SECTION 215 NEVER USED AGAINST LIBRARY, BOOKSTORE. The Attorney General continues to defend the PATRIOT Act and has now stated that the controversial search powers have never been used against a library or bookstore (although he didn't mention newsrooms, possible searches of which are a concern that this organization has brought directly to his attention before). Yet a Justice spokesman dismissed critics who saw the non-use as evidence that these broad new powers have not been necessary in the fight against terrorism and could safely be repealed. Critics also point out that Justice could use the powers any time in the future without any public knowledge. And the very Web site that Ashcroft launched in an effort to explain the PATRIOT Act shows that Justice has an interest in using those powers: Law enforcement authorities have always been able to obtain business records in criminal cases through grand jury subpoenas, and continue to do so in national security cases where appropriate. These records were sought in criminal cases such as the investigation of the Zodiac gunman, where police suspected the gunman was inspired by a Scottish occult poet, and wanted to learn who had checked the poet's books out of the library. [Section 1, fourth bullet point] And for having checked out a poet's book at a library, readers were considered suspects in a serial murder investigation. Now Justice officials and FBI agents can do so in more investigations with less judicial oversight. We should all rest easier now. — Posted at 5:35 pm

SPJ ASKS ASHCROFT TO OPEN UP. The Society of Professional Journalists recently urged Attorney General John Ashcroft to make his USA PATRIOT Act talks "more accessible to the public and to reporters from all news media." — Posted at 4:20 pm

Sep. 18, 2003

ASHCROFT CALLS ALA PRESIDENT. Attorney General John Ashcroft telephoned American Library Association President Carla Hayden on Wednesday. The ALA reports that Ashcroft expressed his concern that people have misunderstood his commitment to civil liberties and committed to declassify the Justice Department report on Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. — Posted at 2:44 pm

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAYS IT'S NEVER USED PATRIOT ACT TO SEARCH LIBRARIES AND BOOKSTORES. The Justice Department, which has repeatedly been accused of encroaching on civil liberties in its war on terrorism, has never actually used a controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows it to seek records from libraries, bookstores or other businesses, according to a confidential memo from Attorney General John D. Ashcroft obtained by the Washington Post and The Associated Press. Ashcroft said in the memo to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that he had decided to declassify that previously secret information because of his "concern that the public not be misled about the manner in which the U.S. Department of Justice, and the FBI in particular, have been utilizing the authorities provided in the USA Patriot Act. — Posted at 11:08 am

Sep. 17, 2003

ALA RESPONDS TO ASHCROFT'S CHARGE OF "HYSTERICS." American Library Association President Carla Hayden responded to Attorney General Ashcroft's claim that the ALA and others' criticisms of Justice Department powers to secretly review library records were "baseless hysterics" in a statement on the ALA's website. "We are deeply concerned that the Attorney General should be so openly contemptuous of those who seek to defend our Constitution. Rather than ask the nation's librarians and Americans nationwide to 'just trust him,' Ashcroft should allay concerns by releasing aggregate information about the number of libraries visited using the expanded powers created by the USA PATRIOT Act. — Posted at 2:40 pm

NEW COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER WILL DEVELOP "WATCH LIST." A new counterrrorism center will create a master list over of 100,000 suspected terrorists to be shared by federal agencies, according to a New York Times article. The list, which will integrate various lists presently used by federal agencies, will monitor suspected foreign terrorists and Americans suspected of terrorist activity. The article says that officials expect that private-sector groups, such as airlines and energy plants, will be able to access some information from the list. One critic objects that the task of integrating the lists should have been left for Congress, commenting that there "needs to be some public discussion about what criteria are going to be used to determine who is really considered a terrorism suspect." Click here to read the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and CIA that sets up the center and watch list. Click here to read the Justice Department's press release and fact sheet announcing the new program. — Posted at 1:25 pm

Sep. 16, 2003

U.S. REVEALS 3,800 "SECURITY DETAINEES" ARE BEING HELD IN IRAQ. U.S. military officials revealed today that the U.S. is holding 10,000 prisoners of war in Iraq, including 3,800 previously unreported prisoners who are being classified as "security detainees," the AFP reports. U.S. Brigadier Gen. Janis Karpinski told the AFP that all but a "negligible" number of the detainees have been held since before May 1, when major combat operations ended. Until now, however, the U.S. had reported only 600 security detainees. When asked if the detainees had a right to legal assistance or access to their families, Karpinski told the AFP that "they didn't ask for" such rights. — Posted at 3:44 pm

ASHCROFT WRITES OFF OPPOSITION TO LIBRARY RECORD SCRUTINY AS "HYSTERIA." Attorney General John Ashcroft characterized criticism of the FBI's ability to scrutinize library records as "baseless hysteria" according to The New York Times . The American Library Association and other critics have opposed post-Sept. 11th legislation that allows the FBI to secretly scrutinize library records, and then prevent the libraries from disclosing that such scrutiny ever occured. According to Ashcroft, the Justice Department "has no interest in your reading habits." However, under the law, if they did, we would have no way of knowing it. The American Library Association has posted on its Web site a review of the confidentiality laws in the 48 states that regulate the information libraries are allowed to divulge about their patrons. Meanwhile, USA TODAY reports that even conservative lawmakers are becoming concerned with the zeal with which Ashcroft appears to be disregarding civil rights. And Independent Online columnist David Fellerath reports on his efforts to cover Ashcroft's Patriot Act Tour 2003, and provides a interesting view of Ashcroft trying to avoid questions from the New York Times' diligent reporter, Eric Lichtblau. — Posted at 3:14 pm

Sep. 15, 2003

GAO REPORTS THAT ASHCROFT MEMO HAS HAD LITTLE EFFECT. Attorney General John Ashcroft's tightening of Freedom of Information Act guidelines has had no effect on the amount of information released, said nearly half of the government FOIA officials surveyed in a report issued Monday. Forty-eight percent of surveyed government officials who handle FOIA requests said they noticed no changes in what their agencies release to the general public since Ashcroft changed the Justice Department's FOIA memorandum in October 2001. Only 31 percent said their agencies release less information to the public because of Ashcroft's directive, according to the General Accounting Office, Congress's watchdog arm. — Posted at 5:07 pm

SENATE INTELLIGENCE "MOST INEFFECTUAL IN MEMORY." Secrecy News, a publication of the Federation of American Scientists, calls the decision of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence not to pursue the release of 27 classified pages from the congressional Joint Inquiry into the September 11 attacks a setback to the 9/11 investigation, a missed opportunity to confront administration secrecy policies, and a reinforcement of the committee's "own reputation as the most ineffectual intelligence overseer in memory." Committee members Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) had led the struggle to have the pages declassified and released. But Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who chairs the committee, and its vice chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), wrote Graham on Sept. 9 that they believed release of the pages could compromise counterterrorism efforts. The administration had refused to declassify the pages,which are rumored to concern Saudi Arabia. Secrecy News pointed out in May that Congress has the authority to override an executive branch classification but has never done so. — Posted at 5:03 pm

Sep. 12, 2003

WE DON'T COUNT FATAL ERRORS. Knight Ridder reporters Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown explore today the dearth of information on military mistakes resulting in deaths of civilians in Iraq. They write that for many Iraqis "it's a painful irony" that as American civilian officials teach democratic values and respect for human rights, heavily armed American soldiers "storm into their homes, arrest people and kill some of them by mistake, all without public accountability or judicial review." Despite the increase in casualties, no statistics are collected. The reporters quote U.S. administrator L.Paul Bremer's response to questions about the deaths -- "the numbers are really very low," Bremer said, but acknowledged that he could not say how many had been killed. — Posted at 5:31 pm

MORE AL-JAZEERA REPORTERS DETAINED. U.S. military officials detained two Al-Jazeera reporters in Baghdad recently, apparently because of their proximity to a bombing in the city. AP reports that a military spokesman said the reporters had broken the coalition's "ground rules," although no such rules have been issued. The French AFP news service reports that coalition commander Ricardo Sanchez said, somewhat ominously, that "there was justification to hold these two reporters based on their comments." — Posted at 3:21 pm

FEDERAL AGENTS HOUND ABC AFTER DEPLETED URANIUM SMUGGLING ABCNEWS reports that U.S. customs agents presented themselves at the ABCNEWS bureau in Los Angeles on September 2, after learning that ABC reporters had succeeded in smuggling depleted uranium from Jakarta to Los Angeles, as part of an investigation of U.S. security. The agents demanded access to ABC personnel and the depleted uranium. Agents also tracked down an ABC cameraman in an effort to obtain ABC field tapes, without a warrant or subpoena, and on Sept. 6, showed up at the home of nuclear physicist Tom Cochran of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which had loaned ABC the depleted uranium. — Posted at 3:18 pm

COMMONS CLEARS BLAIR OF DELIBERATE MISREPRESENTATION In a parliamentary report, the British House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee has cleared British Prime Minister Tony Blair of claims that his office deliberately exaggerated intelligence reports on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in order to justify military action, The Washington Post reported today. The committee's report also said that the intelligence dossier which served as some basis for Blair's views was potentially misleading in that it cited dangers of weapons of mass destruction but as of February could point to no evidence of the weapons. The new report is based on a series of closed-door hearings with cabinet ministers, intelligence chiefs and others, the Post reported. — Posted at 3:16 pm

Sep. 11, 2003

BUSH SEEKS BROADER ANTITERRORISM LAWS, LESS ACCOUNTABILITY. Defying criticism that the USA Patriot Act goes too far in eroding civil liberties, President Bush is calling for even broader executive powers in the war on terrorism, almost all of which lead to less public knowledge and oversight of the investigative process. Speaking at the FBI crime laboratory in Quantico, Va., Bush asserted that the Justice Department should have authority to issue administrative subpoenas without court approval and hold terror suspects without bail, according to Reuters. Bush's proposals could be a hard sell, says Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times, especially since Congress has already rejected some of them in the past. But Lichtblau says Bush "appears to have calculated that the renewed memories of the Sept. 11 attacks evoked by their second anniversary will be enough to outweigh rising concerns over civil liberties." — Posted at 5:15 pm

REPORTERS TEST SECURITY, FACE PROSECUTION The Associated Press reported Wednesday that ABC reporters who tested Homeland Security screeners for an investigative piece on lax border security by smuggling harmless depleted uranium into the country may face criminal charges. ABC News said that it believes its actions consitute legitimate investigative journalism. A Homeland Security spokesman said ABC may have broken the law but Congressmen urged the Department of Justice not to force a lawsuit and trample on legitimate reporting. — Posted at 5:14 pm

Sep. 10, 2003

JUDGE REJECTS ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL FOR MOUSSAOUI ACCESS. In a ruling that may help push the Moussaoui case toward a military tribunal, a federal judge has rejected the government's proposed alternatives to letting accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui question two witnesses, Reuters reports. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema had given prosecutors until Sept. 10 to say whether they would comply with her order to allow videotaped depositions of alleged Sept. 11 planners Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. The government is expected to appeal, and may face sanctions. — Posted at 8:17 pm

POINDEXTER SAYS INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM NOT DESIGNED TO SPY ON AMERICANS. Retired Admiral John Poindexter writes in an Op/Ed in today's New York Times that it is a myth that the Information Awareness Office at the Department of Defense intends to develop some kind of system to spy on Americans. "The terrorism information program is not and never has been intended for use in surveillance against Americans. The program's research is aimed at detecting foreign terrorist planning. The experiments have used only data from foreign sources, data that is legally available to all agencies that participated. There is no use of credit-card, banking or other data on United States citizens," he writes. Poindexter resigned last month as director of the Information Awareness Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. — Posted at 4:40 pm

Sep. 9, 2003

ASHCROFT'S PATRIOT TOUR PROVOKES MORE CRITICISM OVER ACCESS. Attorney General Ashcroft's conduct during his USA Patriot Act tour has provoked criticism around the country. Most aggravating to print journalists has been Ashcroft's refusal to answer questions from print media. Howard Altman of the Philadelphia City Paper writes about the irony of being escorted, by the Secret Service, away from television reporters headed to meet with Ashcroft in the National Constitution Center. Buffalo News commentator Donn Esmonde, similarly denied access to Ashcroft, protests: "My pen is not a weapon of mass destruction. My notebook is not a suicide bomb." Meanwhile Ashcroft's Patriot Act tour met with resistence on the road today as Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards proposed repealing portions of the Patriot Act at a campaign stop in NH, even as the Atty. General defended the law just miles away. — Posted at 5:24 pm

INTERNAL REPORT FAULTS TERROR DETENTION PLANS. In a report submitted yesterday to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, the Office of the Inspector General concluded that the government still has not implemented policies to avoid a repeat of the widespread problems surrounding the detention of illegal immigrants following the Sept. 11 attacks. The report, which is available at the Justice Department's website, found that only two of the 21 recommendations made by the Inspector General in an earlier, June 2003 report have been fully implemented by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. As The New York Times summarizes, the report finds that "changes had often been too slow or too ill defined to ensure that abuses were not repeated." — Posted at 5:23 pm

JUSTICE OFFICIAL MOCKS "NIGHTLINE" OVER PROMO. A Justice Department spokesperson demanded a retraction from ABC's "Nightline" over a promo that appeared on the show's Web site, and ABC appears to have backed off the statement in response. The original promo read: "Imagine a nation where police can search your home without a court order or a warrant. Don't look too far, it's already here." In response, Justice official Barbara Comstock released a statement saying: Perhaps the "Nightline" show should have been tagged, "Name that law." Could they be referring to the USA PATRIOT Act? What law allows this? Having never heard of such a law, Justice Department lawyers quickly consulted the books to see what "Nightline" was referencing. But we came away empty-handed. We couldn't find it in the USA PATRIOT Act. We couldn't find it in the revised FBI investigative guidelines. We couldn't find it in the laws that pre-date the war on terror. And we certainly couldn't find it in the Constitution. ABC subsequently amended the statement and issued a correction [linked page may not carry correction long] stating: "The correct copy should read: 'Imagine a nation where police can search your home or medical records without your knowledge. Don't look too far, it's already here.'" Like the suit against Al Franken's book that caused a sales spike, maybe Comstock's sarcastic response and defense of a law that does indeed allow searches and seizures of a wide array of records and other materials, even those held by reporters, will bring more attention to the issue and prompt her boss to address the questions he doesn't want to talk about. — Posted by Gregg Leslie, Legal Defense Director, 4:20 pm

RUMSFELD WARNS THAT CRITICISM MAKES JOB MORE DIFFICULT. The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that political opposition to President Bush's actions was hindering the war on terrorism. If terrorists start to think Bush might waver or his opponents will defeat him, Rumsfeld is quoted as saying, "they take heart in that and that leads to more money going into these activities or that leads to more recruits or that leads to more encouragement or that leads to more staying power. Obviously that does make our task more difficult." — Posted at 4:14 pm

Sep. 8, 2003

BRINGING IN THE SHILLS. An editorial in The (Fort Wayne, Ind.,) Journal Gazette criticized Attorney General Ashcroft for having his front-line prosecutors across the country shill for an "ill-conceived" Patriot Act. The column said U.S. attorney Susan Brooks of Indianapolis went "over the top" with a multimedia presentation to explain the act that included photos of September 11 shown while "God Bless America" played in the background. It speculated that if explanations of the law are going to be so politicized, a more liberal attorney general might explain it while showing pictures of police beatings accompanied by the Who's "Won't Be Fooled Again." The President, Ashcroft and their political allies may well lobby for acceptance of the act, but U.S. attorneys should stay out of the political battles and be left alone to prosecute cases, the editorial said. — Posted at 6:14 pm

SAUDI ARABIA SEEKS RELEASE OF GUANTANAMO DETAINEES. In talks with State Department officials, a government delegation from Saudi Arabia last week raised the issue of repatriating 124 Saudis held at the Navy prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, The Washington Post reports. A State Department spokeswoman told the Post's Amy Goldstein that there are no current plans for legal proceedings against the Saudi prisoners, who are being held without charges. U.S. officials say that specific cases were not discussed at the meeting, which reportedly addressed a wide range of U.S.-Saudi issues. — Posted at 5:15 pm

PATRIOT ACT'S SECRECY FRUSTRATES DEBATE. Provisions of the USA Patriot Act protect the law from scrutiny, allowing the government to conduct investigations in secret while keeping critics in the dark. According to The Washington Post, critics cite their inability to gain information about how the law has been used as a critical impediment to calling attention to abuses. In the same vein, The New York Times highlights the fact that Attorney General Ashcroft's tour to promote the Patriot Act has been closed to the public. The Justice Department's decision to grant press access to broadcasters while limiting access to the print press has angered some print reporters, according to the Times. — Posted at 12:41 pm

Sep. 7, 2003

NEW YORK COUNTER-TERRORISM NETWORK OPERATES IN SECRET. Newsday reports that New York's Counter-Terrorism Network will soon move to a new undisclosed location. The network disseminates confidential "terrorism-related" memorandums to police, health, education, fire and emergency personnel, and has been criticized as a method of weakening public accountability and keeping information from disclosure under New York's freedom of information laws. — Posted at 09:47 am

Sep. 5, 2003

AL JAZEERA REPORTER ARRESTED, SUSPECTED OF BELONGING TO AL QAIDA. Spain arrested a celebrated war correspondent from the Arab television network Al Jazeera on Friday in the southern city of Granada on suspicion of belonging to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Court sources in Madrid said Tayseer Alouni, a Syrian, was suspected of relaying secret messages to al Qaeda operatives in Europe, possibly including messages from bin Laden himself, and he was believed also to have delivered living expenses to them. In an interview with Al Jazeera, his wife denied the allegations. — Posted at 4:02 pm

ASHCROFT'S ROAD SHOW IS REVEALING. Attorney General John Ashcroft marked the two-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 by launching a national publicity tour to sell Americans on the USA Patriot Act. David Cole writes in The Nation that the fact Ashcroft felt the need to do so was itself revealing. Particularly telling, however, is the fact that Ashcroft's national tour will not address the public. His speaking engagements are all before closed audiences, primarily law-enforcement officers. The choice to speak to police and exclude the people captures much of the flavor of the Administration's war on terrorism: It has repeatedly sought to maximize police power while minimizing public oversight. But that tactic may be backfiring, as the American people are starting to fight back, Cole writes. — Posted at 1:54 pm

MISSING PAKISTANI MAN IN U.S. CUSTODY According to The New York Times and the Associated Press, the wife of a Pakistani man who disappeared July 5 has received a letter from her husband saying he is being held in U.S. detention in Afghanistan. The husband, Saifullah Paracha, reportedly wrote that he is being held indefinitely at a U.S.-controlled air base outside Kabul. U.S. authorities did not confirm the report. Paracha's son, Uzair, has been charged by federal prosecutores in Manhattan with attempting to help an al-Qaida associate enter the United States, but it is unknown whether Paracha himself has been charged with a crime. "I don't expect Americans to behave this way," Paracha's wife told The New York Times. — Posted at 1:22 pm

Sep. 4, 2003

OMB WATCH POSTS DHS COMMENTS. OMB Watch reports that it donated three hours of programming time so that public comments submitted to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding its proposed Critical Infrastructure Information rule are available for review electronically. DHS officials informed the Washington-based watchdog group last week of their intention to post the CII docket on the agency's website. The docket contains the 65 substantive comments submitted on the proposed rule. DHS expected the comments would be available Tuesday, but as of close of business Wednesday there was still no sign of the docket on the DHS website. DHS shared with OMB Watch copies of all the CII comments while preparing to post the docket. In the interest of public access, OMB Watch provided online access to the public comments while DHS worked to make its official docket available. The planned online docket is an important step in DHS's approach to public access. Originally, reports indicated that DHS planned to post the comments only when the final rule was published. DHS claims that the CII rule should be finalized in a few weeks. — Posted at 3:50 pm

WHAT THE PATRIOT ACT REALLY DOES. While civil libertarians and the Justice Department continue to sling accusations at each other over what the USA Patriot Act REALLY does, commentator Anita Ramasastry of Findlaw's "Modern Practice" online magazine dissects Section 215 of the Act. She says that under Section 215, searches and seizures can occur not only without notice to the target, but also without a warrant, without a criminal subpoena, and without any showing of probable cause that a crime has been committed. Ramasastry approves of the ACLU's lawsuit to declare the act unconstitutional. — Posted at 3:38 pm

FORMER ARIZONA GRADUATE STUDENT DEPORTED A former University of Arizona graduate student has been deported without charges to his native Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reports. Muhammad Al-Qudhai'een, a father of five and former Ph.D candidate at the University of Arizona, had been held as a "material witness" in a federal prison in Virginia since June. Federal officials have never disclosed why Al-Qudhai'een was detained. — Posted at 3:06 pm

MOUSSAOUI OPINION UNSEALED The government released on Wednesday a redacted version of a federal judge's opinion granting September 11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui access to two captured al-Qaida operatives, the The Washington Post reports. In the opinion, originally issued under seal on Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said the testimony of the two witnesses could "eliminate the possibility" of a death sentence for Moussaoui. The Associated Press reports that the proposed testimony may support Moussaoui's contention that he was not even contacted to participate in the attacks. Large portions of the ruling were blacked out, however. The government has said it will appeal Judge Brinkema's ruling. — Posted at 2:09 pm

Sep. 3, 2003

AERIAL ADVERTISING COMPANIES STILL BANNED FROM FLYING OVER SPORTING EVENTS. The Associated Press reports that aerial advertising companies have failed to get a preliminary injunction against new federal security regulations that prohibit them from flying over major sporting events. In Evansville, Ind., U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young ruled there is little possibility for flying companies to successfully challenge the regulation. The lawsuit, filed last May against the U.S. Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration, alleged part of the Homeland Security Act prohibiting aerial advertising at certain venues violates constitutional free-speech and due-process rights. — Posted at 5:31 pm

PATRIOT ACT IS A "LIGHTENING ROD." The Chicago Tribune's Jan Crawford Greenberg reports that two years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration is locked in an increasingly fierce debate over the fate of the USA Patriot Act. Designed to give law-enforcement agencies more tools to investigate potential terrorists, the Act has become a lightning rod for criticism by groups on both ends of the ideological spectrum that contend it encroaches on civil liberties. (reg. required.) — Posted at 4:24 pm

SECRET REPORT SAYS WAR PLANNING FLAWED AND RUSHED. A secret report for the Joint Chiefs of Staff obtained by The Washington Times lays the blame for setbacks in Iraq on a flawed and rushed war-planning process that "limited the focus" for preparing for post-Saddam Hussein operations. The report, prepared last month, said the search for weapons of mass destruction was planned so late in the game that it was impossible for U.S. Central Command to carry out the mission effectively. "Insufficient U.S. government assets existed to accomplish the mission," the classified briefing said. The report is titled "Operation Iraqi Freedom Strategic Lessons Learned" and is stamped "secret." The report also shows that President Bush approved the overall war strategy for Iraq in August last year. That was eight months before the first bomb was dropped and six months before he asked the U.N. Security Council for a war mandate that he never received. — Posted at 4:19 pm

EU REJECTS DEMANDS FOR AIRLINE PASSENGER INFORMATION. Reuters reports that the European Commission said on Tuesday it rejected U.S. demands for airlines to reveal passenger information as the anti-terrorism measure could breach EU privacy rules. A spokesman for the EU executive said Washington had failed to give binding commitments that personal data could not be abused in ways that might break EU laws on confidentiality. Also, The EU's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has issued a strong report on access by the United States to personal data on passengers flying from the EU to the USA. — Posted at 4:14 pm

ARMY LACKS ACTIVE-DUTY TROOPS TO KEEP THE OCCUPATION FORCE PAST MARCH. A new Congressional study shows that the Army lacks the active-duty troops to keep the current occupation force in Iraq past March, without getting extra help from either other services and reserves or from other nations, or without spending tens of billions to vastly expand its size. The study, released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, was requested by Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, a critic of the Iraq war and the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, who was frustrated by the Bush administration's reluctance to discuss its personnel options in Iraq or the long-term cost of a sustained occupation force. The New York Times said the report said that if the Pentagon stuck to its plan of rotating active-duty Army troops out of Iraq after a year, it would be able to sustain a force of only 67,000 to 106,000 active duty and reserve Army and Marine forces. A larger force would put at risk the military's operations elsewhere around the globe, the study said. The Washington Post reports that the Pentagon has declined to send an official to House hearings next week on war costs. — Posted at 4:09 pm

WOUNDED U.S. TROOPS GO UNREPORTED. U.S. battlefield casualties in Iraq are increasing dramatically in the face of continued attacks by remnants of Saddam Hussein's military and other forces, with almost 10 American troops a day now being officially declared "wounded in action," the Washington Post reports. The number of those wounded in action, which totals 1,124 since the war began in March, has grown so large, and attacks have become so commonplace, that U.S. Central Command usually issues news releases listing injuries only when the attacks kill one or more troops. The result is that many injuries go unreported. — Posted at 4:07 pm

Sep. 2, 2003

FISA COURT JUDGES IDENTITIES RELEASED. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. But very little information about it has been readily available in the public domain -- not even a complete list of its members. The FISA Court is responsible for authorizing government applications for clandestine search and surveillance in counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations. In 2002, the Court reviewed and approved 1228 such applications, an all-time high. The Court plays a decisive role in defining the permissible boundaries of domestic surveillance. When the FBI denies that it uses the USA Patriot Act to indiscriminately monitor the reading habits of unsuspecting Americans, it points to the fact that by law any such surveillance must first be approved by the FISA Court. But who are the current members of the FISA Court? It's not an official secret, but neither has it been published. Until now. The Federation of American Scientists filed a freedom of information act request with the Justice Department on behalf of its publication, "Secrecy News." Click here to see a roster of FISA Court judges. — Posted at 5:21 pm

SOME CRITICISMS OF PATRIOT ACT NOT JUSTIFIED. The USA Patriot Act is going through a national checkup triggered by lawsuits, grass-roots pressure and other factors. Civil liberties groups are decrying its operation. Members of Congress are having second thoughts. The Bush administration and the Justice Department are defending their record in enforcing it. But despite the growing and widespread debate, the Los Angeles Times reports that there remains confusion about what the law exactly does and does not do. With the passage of time since the Sept. 11 attacks, interest groups and others are scrutinizing the law and questioning whether certain provisions are too broad or are really necessary. The Times reports that some of the criticsms of the act are just plain wrong. On the other hand, the ACLU claims that a new Justice Department website purporting to "dispel the myths" about the controversial PATRIOT Act in fact creates fresh myths about the law and gives new life to old ones, according to analysis released last week."It is inexcusable that Attorney General Ashcroft is using this website to further mislead the public about controversial portions of the law," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The American people are entitled to a more honest account." — Posted at 5:01 pm

MOUSSAOUI WINS ANOTHER ROUND. Accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui has won another court ruling to obtain access to a top al Qaeda captive, but the government is certain to appeal, CNN reports. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., on Friday granted Moussaoui's request for testimony from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the reputed architect of the hijacking attacks on New York and Washington, according to sources familiar with the ruling. Brinkema's order and opinion remain under seal. The New York Times reports that Brinkema's decision promises to further complicate a government prosecution that has already become entangled by unexpected legal obstacles. Officials have been considering whether to move Moussaoui to a military tribunal rather than continuing to prosecute him in civil court, and Brinkema's decision could increase the likelihood of such a move. — Posted at 4:55 pm

UN CHIEF INSPECTOR SAYS DOSSIER HAD NO FOUNDATION IN TRUTH. The British government's Iraq dossier "did not correspond with reality", the UN's chief weapons inspector said Monday, casting further doubts on its use to bolster Britain's case for going to war. The focus of the criticism was the government's intelligence claim that Saddam Hussein's regime was capable of deploying weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Dimitris Perricos, who replaced Hans Blix as the chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq two months ago, dismissed the intelligence as having no foundation in truth, according to The Independent. He also said that inspections found no evidence to support British and American accusations that Saddam possesssed an arsenal capable of widespread death and damage. Meanwhile, former chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix felt Washington was intimidating him to produce reports that would justify military action in the run-up to the Iraq war, according to a Reuters report. — Posted at 4:50 pm

HIGH COURT ASKED TO HEAR APPEAL FOR GUANTANAMO DETAINEES. The Supreme Court was asked today to consider whether the Bush administration has violated the Constitution by holding 660 terrorist suspects in Cuba without charges or access to attorneys. The appeal was being filed on behalf of some detainees at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, and their families. An appeals court in Washington ruled earlier this year that the detainees have no rights to hearings in American courts, or other constitutional protections, because they are aliens held outside U.S. territory. The military has said the interrogations are yielding important intelligence tips. Click here to see the habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of the detainees by the Center for Constitutional Rights. — Posted at 4:34 pm

WHITMAN DENIES SHE WAS TOLD TO LIE. Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman denies that she was told to lie about health risks in Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. An EPA inspector general's report said Whitman assured the public that the air was safe to breathe before tests were conclusive. — Posted at 4:32 pm

ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL NOT BEING REPORTED. Attacks on civilians and U.S. military personnel in Iraq have become so commonplace that a brazen assassination attempt last month on two military officers in civilian dress working for the Coalition Provisional Authority wasn't even reported at the time, the Washington Post reported. Word of the attack, which left the two Americans shaken but only slightly injured by gunfire, finally turned up last week in the latest security report from Centurion Risk Assessment Services, a British firm staffed by former Royal Marine commandos and British Special forces personnel that counsels journalists and businessmen on how to operate safely in dangerous environments. "Everyone working in Iraq should take note of this as it could add to problems regarding personal safety and security," Centurion said. "Many incidents are not making the headlines," the report continued. "Most of them are not being reported at all by the forces involved as they are possibly trying to minimize the threats and play down the overall threat to all involved in working in Iraq." The report continued, "I don't know how many times I've heard administration officials argue that the media is overplaying the attacks in Iraq, accentuating the negative, ignoring obvious progress and painting a distorted picture of postwar Iraq. If anything, the Centurion update makes me think the media may actually be failing to capture just how precarious security really is." Meanwhile, writing for Slate.com, Daniel Benjamin reflects on recent speeches by National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and Defenwe Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who claimed that the resistance faced by U.S. forces in Iraq is similar to that encountered by Allied forces in Germany in the 1940s. Benjamin concludes, "The Rice-Rumsfeld depiction of the Allied occupation of Germany is a farrago of fiction and a few meager facts." — Posted at 4:25 pm

FACE RECOGNITION SYSTEM FAILS TEST. Camera technology designed to spot potential terrorists by their facial characteristics at airports failed its first major test, a report from the airport that tested the technology shows. Today's USA Today reports that Tampa became the first city in the United States to install the FaceIt software in June 2001 to scan faces in Ybor City. Last year, two separate face-recognition systems at Boston's Logan Airport failed 96 times to detect volunteers who played potential terrorists as they passed security checkpoints during a three-month test period, the airport's analysis says. The systems correctly detected them 153 times. The airport's report calls the rate of inaccuracy "excessive." The report was completed in July 2002 but not made public. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained a copy last month through a Freedom of Information Act request. — Posted at 4:19 pm