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.

Nov. 26, 2003

AFTERGOOD FREQUENTLY SCOOPS NATIONAL MEDIA. Today's Washington Post profiles Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood, who also serves as editor of "Secrecy News," often scoops the national media with anecdotes about government attempts to keep information secret. — Posted at 3:16 pm

U.S. AND AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCE \"AGREEMENT\" ON MILITARY COMMISSIONS. The governments of the United States and Australia separately announced Tuesday that they had reached what was alternately described as an "agreement," an "understanding," and a series of "commitments" to pave the way for the U.S. to hold military trials for the two Australians detained in Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. announcement says the prosecution will not seek the death penalty against one of the detainees, David Hicks, but it is silent with respect to the other, Mamdouh Habib. It also gives a variety of "case-specific" assurances, such as that the prosecution "does not intend" to rely on evidence requiring closed proceedings, and that the trials will be open to the news media and Australian government representatives "subject to any necessary security restrictions." The Australian announcement uses nearly verbatim language. Additional coverage can be found in The New York Times. — Posted at 11:45 am

PRICE OF SECURITY OR PRICE GOUGING? Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich)have requested that the Pentagon inspector general investigate the alleged over-pricing of gasoline sent to Iraq by Halliburton, Reuters reports. Haliburton is working under a contract from the Army Corps of Engineers to supply gas to Iraq until local oil refineries are brought back up to speed. The company has been accused of overcharging the U.S. for the gasoline, but has said that the high price is due to the cost of providing security. Haliburton, which was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, received Iraqi reconstruction contracts without going through the normal competitive bidding process. — Posted at 10:41 am

Nov. 24, 2003

U.S. SAYS ARAB TV OFFERS \"CHANNEL FOR INCITEMENT.\" The State Department defended the U.S.-selected Iraqi Governing Council decision to shut down the Baghdad offices of a major Arab television station today, stating that the aim was to ensure that the media are not used "as a channel for incitement, for inflammatory statements and for statements and actions that harm the security of people who live and work in Baghdad, including the Iraqi citizens themselves." The move comes after the station, Al-Arabiya, aired a tape purporting to be Sadaam Hussein calling for Iraqis to attack Iraqis cooperating with U.S. forces in Iraq, according to The Washington Post. Salah Negm, editor-in-chief of Al-Arabiya told the Post: "We regret the decision. Actually, we're astonished by it. What we do is report the events that happen. We don't make the events. If you want to treat the causes of violence, you cure the causes. You don't punish the media that cover what happens." — Posted at 5:27 pm

U.S. CITIZEN IS SECRETLY DETAINED IN SAUDI ARABIA. The Washington Post on Saturday reported the story of Ahmed Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen who has been held in Saudia Arabia since June 11 under mysterious circumstances - and apparently with the cooperation of the U.S. government. Abu Ali, a 22-year old student at Saudia Arabia's University of Medina, was arrested by Saudi authorities shortly before he was to take his final exams and return to his Falls Church, Va., home. FBI officials reportedly told The Post that the U.S. is aware of the case and has "access" to Abu Ali, but neither government has disclosed whether Abu Ali has been charged, or what alleged acts have caused his detention. — Posted at 5:09 pm

SENATE SEIZES JUDICIARY COMPUTERS. U.S. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle seized four Judiciary Committee computer servers on Friday after receiving a bipartisan directive from top Senate leaders to thoroughly investigate the leak of 14 Democratic memos to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times, according to Roll Call . The memos, which detail political strategies for blocking or delaying Bush's judicial nominees, were allegedly stolen from the servers and given to the newspapers. Republicans have used the contents of the memos to attack Democrats for playing to interest groups in the judicial nomination process. Private forensic experts will examine the computers to determine whether the memos were stolen, Pickle said. — Posted at 4:59 pm

U.S. RELEASES 20 GUANTANAMO PRISONERS; DETAILS SECRET. The Pentagon announced today that it has released 20 prisoners from its prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Assocated Press reports. Officials did not disclose the names or identities or those released, but The New York Times ran an Agence France-Presse report saying that five are Pakistanis who arrived home on Saturday. The U.S. also transferred 20 new suspects to the prison from a secret location, meaning the inmate population at Camp Delta remains at approximately 660. — Posted at 4:12 pm

911 COMMISSION PROMISES PRIVACY. The bipartisan commission investigating the Sept 11 terror attacks has offered to keep confidential the recordings it has subpoenaed from the city of New York, The Washington Post reports. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has refused to turn over tapes of emergency calls and interviews with firefighters, claiming that it would be a violation of victims' privacy. A Sept 23, 2003 letter to the city shows that the commission recognized the privacy concerns prior to issuing the subpoena and had not planned on making that information public for as long as 50 years. — Posted at 4:06 pm

CONFIDENTIALITY CONCERNS CAUSE COMPLAINTS. Private companies applying for caps on liability complain that the government requires too much confidential information and fails to protect it from disclosure, The Washington Post reports. The liability cap was enacted by Congress to protect companies producing anti-terrorism technology from lawsuits if the technology fails in an attack, and is administered by the Department of Homeland Security. The cap has been called "mini tort reform" and is worth billions of dollars in protection to the companies. However, those companies complain that the DHS has not explained how it will keep sensitive financial information away from customers and competitors. DHS replies that the benefits are too great to be given away lightly and that it asks for no more information than it needs. — Posted at 3:37 pm

Nov. 21, 2003

EDITORIAL CALLS ADMINISTRATION\'S ENEMY COMBATANT POLICY \"A MOCKERY.\" A New York Times editorial this week criticizes the Bush administration's position that it can hold American citizens in secret as long as it wants, without access to lawyers, simply by calling them "enemy combatants." A New York federal appeals court heard a challenge to that policy this week by the so-called dirty bomber, Jose Padilla. "The administration's position makes a mockery of the Constitution and puts every American's liberty at risk. It is important that the court strike it down, and give Mr. Padilla the rights he has been denied," The Times said. — Posted at 4:58 pm

911 PANEL ISSUES 3RD SUBPOENA. The bipartisan commission investigating the Sept 11 terrorist attacks has issued its third subpoena, to the city of New York, according to The Washington Post. The subpoena for tapes and transcripts of emergency calls and interviews with firefighters follows subpoenas to the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense. A subpoena to the White House for daily presidential briefings was narrowly avoided by a last minute agreement that has been criticized for giving access to the documents to only some members of the commission. The commission issued the subpoena because of pressure to meet a May deadline. "The city's failure to produce these important documents has significantly impeded the commission's investigation," the commission said in a statement quoted by Reuters. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg objects to the release of the documents because they contain emotional personal statements and some final words of victims and rescue workers. "It will take a court order to make the city violate the privacy of those we lost," the mayor's office told The New York Times. _______________________________________________ — Posted at 4:50 pm

EDITORIAL SERIES EXPLORES \"LOST LIBERTIES.\" In a series of editorials and commentaries this week, The Detroit News explores the impact the War on Terrorism has had on First Amendment rights. The series explores "Lost Liberties." — Posted at 4:03 pm

LEAKED MEMO CAUSE FOR SUSPICION? The leak of an intelligence memo prepared by Deputy Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith's office in response to questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee on the pre-war intelligence relating to possible connections between Sadaam Hussein and al Qaeda may have been a political ploy, according to an article published by Newsweek on MSNBC.com. In response to the Weekly Standard article detailing the memo, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball write that: "there can be little doubt about the motive of the leaker: to shore up the Bush administration's prewar claims and defuse the intelligence community investigation into allegations of the misuse of intelligence." The Pentagon issued a surprising statement on Nov. 15 concerning the memo leak, stating: "News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate." — Posted at 3:56 pm

AIRPORT PILOT PROGRAM HAVING TROUBLE GETTING OFF THE GROUND. Transportation Safety Authority practices make it difficult to tell if public or private airport screeners are more effective, The Washington Post reports. Last year, federal employees were hired to act as screeners, but a pilot program is underway to test the effectiveness of privately employed screeners. However, efforts to compare the effectiveness of the two approaches are hindered by a number of TSA practices. The TSA has collected little information about the screeners' performance and has not made the results of tests public. Private companies also complain that the TSA hinders their ability to try new approaches and to streamline. — Posted at 3:32 pm

Nov. 20, 2003

PANEL WILL SEE WHITE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE; PUBLIC STILL EXCLUDED. Washington Post writer Dan Eggen wrote Sunday that the White House agreement to give the The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States access to briefings on intelligence for both President Bush and Bill Clinton makes an outside panel "privy to some of the executive branch's most closely held secrets for the first time," and marks a "watershed moment" in battles between the executive branch and outside investigators in presidential secrecy matters. The deal reached last week allows two investigators for the commission to read intelligence documents known as "The President's Daily Brief" and pass on to the full panel information they find relevant. But the deal gives the White House the option to read and censor the information those investigators collect. Eggan said two Democrats on the panel and many relatives of Sept. 11 victims view the restrictions as overly stringent. The agreement simply does not address whether details from the documents, which are classified, will ever be made public. — Posted at 6:04 pm

REVAMP REVEALS RECONSTRUCTION. The Program Mangement Office announced a new, more transparent process for awarding reconstruction contracts in Iraq, reports the Los Angeles Times. The agency will be awarding 25 contracts worth $18.7 billion in the next 10 weeks. "We will have maximum transparency from beginning to end," said Rear Admiral David Nash, head of the agency. Previous Iraqi reconstruction contracts have been criticized because they were awarded without competitive bidding or public oversight. — Posted at 5:31 pm

WAR IN IRAQ: AN OBJECT LESSON IN SECRECY. In "The Vanishing Case for War," author Thomas Powers explores the lack of explanation for the war in Iraq. The New York Review of Books in a review in its December 4 issue says the President's argument for going to war "was accepted only by the United States Congress, which voted to give him blanket authority to attack Iraq, and then kept silent during the worldwide debate that followed." The review notes that the entire process "from the moment it became unmistakably clear that the President had decided to go to war in August 2002, until his announcement on May 1 that 'major combat' was over-took about nine months, and it will stand for decades to come as an object lesson in secrecy and its hazards." — Posted at 5:19 pm

TERRORISM FEARS MAY LIMIT KANSAS RECORDS ACT. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that post-Sept 11 fears may result in a more limited Kansas Open Records Act. All exemptions under the Act are set to expire in 2005, and the media along with some state legislators are worried that terrorism will be used as an excuse to pass more restrictions when the Act is reviewed then. "Government belongs to the people. And because the people pay for the government and elect the people to run the government, they have every right to know what is going on unless there is a compellling reason to keep some specific information confidential," says state Sen. Kay O'Connor. "Does that say I want to open up everything? No. I think there are some legitimate compelling reasons. But I want to hear them." — Posted at 5:17 pm

DEFENSE ATTORNEY LYNNE STEWART FACES MORE CRIMINAL CHARGES The government yesterday announced a new indictment against defense attorney Lynne Stewart, charging that Stewart provided material support to terrorists in connection with her representation of the imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Stewart has also been charged with violating Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) that restrict Rahman's communications with the news media and public. More detailed accounts of the charges can be found in The Washington Post and The New York Law Journal. — Posted at 4:56 pm

MOUSSAOUI APPEAL WILL INCLUDE CLOSED SESSION The U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond (4th Cir.) will close the courtroom to the press and public for a portion of the arguments in the appeal of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, the AP reports. The Dec. 3 hearing will include a public session in the morning, followed by a closed session to allow for the discussion of classified information. The court is reviewing Judge Leonie Brinkema's decision to bar the government from seeking the death penalty and introducing evidence related to the Sept. 11 attacks, as a sanction for the government's refusal to grant Moussaoui access to three al Qaida witnesses in U.S. detention. — Posted at 4:24 pm

Nov. 19, 2003

BREMER ATTACKS "DEFORMATION" OF NEWS. Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer "took a parting shot at network television, blaming the news business for transmitting overly gloomy images to American viewers," according to a New York Observer account, in an attempt to justify the need for military-controlled media in Iraq. "It is a, I think, a structural deformation of the news that bad news is what makes news," he said. — Posted at 6:14 pm

Nov. 18, 2003

$87 BILLION VOICE VOTE CRITICIZED. In a letter to Vice President Richard Cheney, the Society of Professional Journalists condemned the use of a voice vote to approve the Administration's $87 billion Iraq spending package because such a vote does not produce a record of how Senators voted on the matter. While recognizing that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to Congress, SPJ pointed out that no other legislative body in the U.S. could approve such a matter without a recorded vote. SPJ plans to call each Senator to ask how they voted, and post the result to SPJ's website. — Posted at 5:58 pm

CIA WANTS JUSTICE TO INVESTIGATE INTELLIGENCE MEMO LEAK The CIA will ask the Justice Department to investigate the leak of a classified Pentagon memo describing agency intelligence on possible connections between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, according to The Washington Post. The memo was sent to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.) from Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith in response to the Senators' request for support for Feith's contention that a close connection existed between Hussein and al Qaeda. Roberts and Rockefeller may also request that the Justice Department investigate the leak of the memo, excerpts of which were first published in the Nov. 24 issue of the Weekly Standard. — Posted at 5:53 pm

Nov. 17, 2003

MORE DETAILS EMERGE ON U.S. ROLE IN SYRIAN TORTURE CASE The Washington Post and The New York Times have run feature stories on Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen who was detained without charges by U.S. authorities in New York and transported to Syria, where he endured ten months of torture before being released without explanation by the Syrian government Oct. 5. The Times reports that Arar's case, which has provoked outrage among many Canadians, has prompted U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to request an explanation from Attorney General John Ashcroft and CIA Director George Tenet. The Post story focuses on the details of Arar's treatment by U.S. officials, who reportedly forced him to sign a document without reading it and ignored his requests for an attorney. — Posted at 6:08 pm

U.S. DOESN'T NOTE CONDITIONS ON GERMAN EXTRADITION OF YEMENI CITIZENS. The Justice Department announced today that two Yemeni citizens accused of raising money for al Qaida and Hamas terrorist groups have been extradited from Germany to the United States. According to Reuters, Germany agreed to the extradition on the condition that the men may not be sentenced to death and may not be tried by a military tribunal -- details that are not mentioned in the Justice Department announcement. — Posted at 6:04 pm

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT HEARS "ENEMY COMBATANT" CASE TODAY The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City (2nd Cir.) today heard arguments in the case of Jose Padilla, an American citizen who has been detained without charges and without any contact with the news media in a naval brig in South Carolina since June 2002. Mark Hamblett offers a detailed analysis of the appeal in the New York Law Journal. As he points out, the government, led by Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement, is taking the broad position that the President has nearly absolute authority to detain anyone that he regards as an "enemy combatant" -- even an American citizen -- and to deny the person most of the protections of American law. The government has appealed U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey's order that lawyers for Padilla must, at a minimum, be permitted to meet with him. — Posted at 6:00 pm

FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LEADERS URGE INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF PATRIOT ACT Last week former deputy attorney general Larry D. Thompson and Micheal Chertoff, former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Criminal Division, called for a bipartisan commission to discuss the impact of the USA PATRIOT Act, according to The Washington Post. At a judicial conference in Philadelphia, Thompson said that the act should be discussed by constitutional scholars and lawyers "outside the partisan wrangling of Congress and outside the unhelpful influence of interest groups." Chertoff, now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia (3rd Cir.), remarked, "Inevitably, decisions of war are made with imperfect information." He concluded that it is time revisit the national security problems of fighting terrorism. In particular Chertoff suggested that the law should allow persons defined as "enemy combatants" to contest such designations. — Posted at 5:47 pm

EDITORIAL: GUANTANAMO DETAINEES SHOULD HAVE THEIR DAY IN COURT An editorial in today's New York Times urges the Supreme Court to vindicate the rights of the Guantanamo detainees in Rasul v. Bush, which the Court agreed last week to hear. The Times argues that the Court should clarify two points: first, that the government's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo is not beyond the reach of U.S. courts simply because the base is not physically located in the U.S.; and second, that the Bush administration is "not above the law when it wages its war on terrorism" -- notwithstanding its assertion that courts lack the authority to review the cases. — Posted at 5:34 pm

SEPT. 11 COMMISSION REACHES DEAL WITH WHITE HOUSE. The bipartisan commission studying the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has reached a deal with the White House for the release of contested documents, reports The New York Times. Under the agreement, two members of the 10 member commission will have access to all of President Clinton and President Bush's daily briefing reports. Two other members of the commission will have access to reports the White House deems relevant to the commission's inquiry. Originally, the White House wanted to select which commissioners would have access, but that decision will be made by the commission. One member of the commission, former Rep. Timothy Roemer (D-Ind), says the agreement puts too many limitations on access to the information. The agreement is also criticized by family members of victims of the attacks, who want information on the attacks to be made public. The commission had previously threatned to subpoena the White House for the briefings. — Posted at 5:21 pm

DHS REVEALS BIOWATCH DETECTION SYSTEM The Department of Homeland Security has released information about its Biowatch biological terrorism detection program, a $60 million, 500-sensor network covering 31 cities. DHS has declined to say what cities are covered, but Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Diego, San Fransico and Washington have acknowleged having sensors. Critics say the the system does not detect small attacks that could harm hundreds or even thousands of people. — Posted at 4:56 pm

SEPT. 11 TRANSCRIPTS POSTED AFTER FIGHT FOR ACCESS. The Memory Hole has posted transcripts of phone calls, radio transmissions and police reports from Sept. 11, 2001, previously withheld by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In August a federal judge ordered the documents released in response to a lawsuit brought by The New York Times, but the Port Authority then refused to release the documents to The Memory Hole, saying that they would have to be obtained through the Times or another media outlet already in possession. The Port Authority later released the documents after The Memory Hole invoked the open records law, but required the Web site to pay $500 for the information. — Posted at 4:52 pm

Nov. 12, 2003

SOLDIERS MORE AGGRESSIVE IN TREATMENT OF MEDIA. Jumpy U.S. soldiers in Iraq are becoming more aggressive in their treatment of journalists covering the conflict, according to The Associated Press. Media people have been detained, news equipment has been confiscated and some journalists have suffered verbal and physical abuse while trying to report on events. Although the number of incidents involving soldiers and journalists is difficult to gauge, anecdotal evidence suggests it has risen sharply the past two months. — Posted at 4:28 pm

CIA REPORT CONTRADICTS UPBEAT IRAQ ASSESSMENTS. A bleak top secret CIA report on the political tide in Iraq contrasts sharply with the upbeat assessments of the vice-president and secretary of defense, Jonathan S. Landay of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today. He writes of warnings that "growing numbers of Iraqis are concluding the U.S.-led coalition can be defeated and are supporting the insurgents." He also reported the view of a senior administration official that the CIA findings are endorsed by L. Paul Bremer, leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, who made an unexpected visit to Washington yesterday for a strategy session. Landay said the disclosures of information about the classified report indicate that some administration officials hope to make certain that the President is aware of the more somber projections. — Posted at 4:16 pm

OVERCLASSIFICATION IN AIR FORCE ESPIONAGE CASE. Lawyers for Ahmad I. Halabi, an Air Force translator charge with espionage at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison, have accused prosecutors and the military of wrongfully designating documents as classified in the prosecution, The Washington Post reports. Innocuous documents have been declared secret and previously secret documents were misclassified as such, the lawyers say. Halabi is accused of possessing classified material without authorization. — Posted at 4:13 pm

IS THE SUPREME COURT READY TO JOIN THE SEPT. 11 DEBATE? In an analysis piece in today's New York Times, Linda Greenhouse suggests that the Supreme Court's acceptance of a case about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may signify that the high court is no longer willing to yield to an unusually assertive White House in matters relating to the war on terrorism. "This was a moment long in coming: the imperial presidency meets the imperial judiciary," Greenhouse writes. She points out that the Bush administration has taken an agressively confrotational legal position, arguing that the federal courts lack jurisdiction over the Guantanamo detainees, rather than admitting jurisdiction but requesting deference to the executive's conduct of military affairs. — Posted at 4:12 pm

Nov. 11, 2003

CHENEY LINKS IRAQ WITH AL QAEDA -- WITH EVIDENCE OR NOT. New York Times reporter Eric Schmitt writes today that Vice President Dick Cheney continues to link deadly strikes in Bali, Casablanca and Riyadh - which authorities say were carried out by Al Qaeda - with major bombings in Iraq this past summer, even though "senior military, intelligence and law enforcement officials say there is no conclusive evidence pointing to a particular group - Al Qaeda or not - as the mastermind behind any of the major attacks in Iraq." Schmitt examines a series of statements by Cheney that appear to overstate the existence of a relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein or other Iraqis. — Posted at 3:58 pm

WAR ON HISTORY The Seattle Times reports that the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Ministry of Education has issued millions of new history textbooks that censor any events deemed "controversial." The old versions of the textbooks presented a pro-Saddam, pro-Baathist version of history blaming America and Jews for the world's problems. Removed in the new books are any references to the 1991 Gulf War, the Iran-Iraq war, Israel, America, Kurds, Saddam and the Baath Party. U.S. advisers did not want to endorse books that could be anti-American, Anti-Israel or radically religious. "Entire swaths of 20th-century history have been deleted," said Bill Evers, an American advisor to the ministry. The censored texts will be used until a revised curriculum can be developed, which may be years from now. — Posted at 11:00 am

Nov. 10, 2003

USA TODAY JOINS CHORUS SEEKING HIGH COURT REVIEW OF SECRECY CASE. The secrecy surrounding the detention, habeas corpus proceedings, and appeals of Mohamed Bellahouel continues to draw interest, as USA Today points out that Supreme Court review "could help a post-9/11 nation find the proper balance between two competing needs: The need for secret law enforcement to protect national security vs. the constitutional guarantee of an open judicial system to ensure the government doesn't trample individuals' rights." — Posted at 6:28 pm

CONTROL THE IMAGES, CONTROL HISTORY. In a lengthy column Sunday, New York Times writer Frank Rich examines "image control" in the war in Iraq, speculating that those who control the images and the "narratives they encapsulate," control history. The administration, he writes, tries to shut down pictures of flag draped coffins as effectively as it has stonewalled Congressional committees and bipartisan commissions examining failures in intelligence before Sept. 11. He also recounts the government's uses and misuses of the Jessica Lynch story to enhance public relations. — Posted at 6:21 pm

PENTAGON BLASTS NBC OVER FOOTAGE OF BOMBING. U.S. officials in Iraq tried to block NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and his cameraman from filming the aftermath of an attack on a Baghdad hotel, The Washington Post reported. An official was quoted saying: "The NBC journalists conducted themselves in a wholly inappropriate, uncaring and insensitive manner. Instead of rendering or summoning aid, they focused on gathering video footage of people in agonizingly painful situations . . . in order to boost the ratings." Miklaszewski countered: "I realized they were very emotional, very upset, that they had been attacked. But frankly, we had a job to do -- cover the attack on the al-Rashid Hotel as best we could. We were being as unobtrusive as we possibly could." A Pentagon adviser on the scene said he "did not witness unprofessional conduct." But officials from the Coalition Provisional Authority called NBC News "to demand that no identifiable footage be shown of the wounded." — Posted at 6:11 pm

GORE CRITICIZES BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S ASSAULT ON CIVIL LIBERTIES In a Nov. 9 speech delivered in Washington's DAR Constitution Hall, former vice president Al Gore criticized the Bush administration for sacrificing civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism and called for a repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act. According to The Washington Post, Gore told the 3,000 attendees: "Rather than defending our freedoms, this administration has sought to abandon them. Rather than accepting our traditions of openness and accountability, this administration has opted to rule by secrecy and unquestioned authority. Its assaults on our core democratic principles have only left us less free and less secure." Gore took aim at the PATRIOT Act, stating that on the whole it has turned out to be "a terrible mistake," according to The New York Times. — Posted at 5:27 pm

SUPREME COURT ACCEPTS REVIEW OF FIRST SEPT. 11 SECRECY CASE The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear its first case arising from the government's campaign against terrorism and the rampant secrecy surrounding related detentions and proceedings. The case, Rajul v. Bush, was brought by public interest lawyers on behalf of two British, two Australian, and twelve Kuwaiti citizens being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without charges or access to counsel. The Court said it will confine it review to whether U.S. courts "lack jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities and incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba." — Posted at 4:53 pm

SEPT 11 WARNING REVEALED The Information Warfare Site reports that a recently declassified communication from the Defense Intelligence Agency reveals that Afgan opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massoud attempted to warn the U.S. about the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Massoud, who was assassinated Sept. 9, 2001 by al-Qaida members posing as journalists, warned of large-scale attacks on the U.S. in a speech to the European Parliment in April, 2001. The November 2001 DIA communication was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive. — Posted at 4:07 pm

Nov. 7, 2003

WHITE HOUSE TO DEMS: WE WON'T ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. The Washington Post reports that the White House will no longer take questions from congressional Democrats. An email sent to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced that all congressional questions must be submitted by committee chairmen, who are all Republicans. Timothy A. Campen, director of the White House Office of Administration, said that the purpose of the policy is to limit duplicative requests and improve the timeliness of responses. "This is obviously an excuse to avoid providing information about some of the things the Democrats are asking for," said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. — Posted at 4:21 pm

911 COMMISSION MAY REJECT PARTIAL OFFER. The White House has offered the bipartisan commission studying the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks some access to its intelligence reports, The New York Times reports. The commission may reject that offer in favor of a subpoena for fuller access. At least three of the 10 members of the commission believe the White House's offer is inadequate. "It's absolutely critical to our inquiry," commission member Jamie Gorelick said of the reports. — Posted at 3:58 pm

FRANCE DEMANDS EXPLANATION ON GUANTANAMO PRISONERS. France announced today that it has demanded information from the United States on why six French nationals continue to be detained at the military prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to Reuters. The report quotes a French foreign ministry spokesman as saying, "We are asking that the U.S. authorities provide us with precise information regarding why they arrested these prisoners and what they are charged with." The account also says that lawyers for four of the French prisoners have asked the United Nations to investigate evidence of psychological torture, including prolonged periods of solitary confinement. — Posted at 2:37 pm

MOUSSAOUI JUDGE STAYS PROCEEDINGS, WARNS DEFENDANT. U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema has stayed all proceedings in the prosecution of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, pending the outcome of the government's appeal of her Oct. 2 order eliminating the death penalty and barring the government from introducing evidence of his role in the attacks. The stay order, issued Wednesday, also states that no trial date will be set for sooner than 180 days from the resolution of the appeal if the death penalty is reinstated, and 90 days if it is not. Separately, Reuters reports, Judge Brinkema warned Moussaoui that he could lose his right to represent himself if he continues to file "frivolous, scandalous, disrespectful or repetitive pleadings" with the court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Fourth Circuit (Richmond, Va.) will hear arguments Dec. 3 on whether to uphold Brinkema's sanctions against the government. — Posted at 11:30 am

GAS PLANT TO TEST NEW INFO WITHOLDING RULES. OMB Watch reports that a new ExxonMobile liquified natural gas plant will test post-Sept 11 restrictions on Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII). Under the restrictions, companies can limit what information is publicly available by labeling it CEII when they submit it to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), including information about accident planning and potential hazards. ExxonMobile refuses to comment on what types of information it will withold under the regulation. A fire in a liquified natural gas tank could cause second-degree burns up to two miles away. Homes and a school are within one mile of the proposed site. — Posted at 10:04 am

Nov. 6, 2003

CDT CRITIQUES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PATRIOT ACT DEFENSE. The Washington D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology in late October published a critique of the Department of Justice's new Web site, which purports to defend the Patriot Act. CDT says that the site touts provisions that no one has objected to and addresses controversial parts of the law with misleading and sometimes incorrect information. Among the government claims it analyzes is that "The PATRIOT Act specifically protects Americans' First Amendment Rights." CDT points out that even though Section 215 provides that an investigation in which business records are sought shall not be conducted of a citizen or green card holder "solely upon the basis of activities pprotected by the First Amendment," that caveat has little practical effect. Few if any investigations would be conducted solely based on First Amendment activities and the caveat makes it clear that information about First Amendment activities actually can be collected, CDT notes. — Posted at 4:59 pm

REPORT CHRONICLES LOSS OF ACCESS. A new report by journalist Stephan Pizzo chronicles the continuing denial of access to government information by the Bush administration, from the Sept. 2001 John Ashcroft order to limit the Freedom of Information Act to current limits on information about contracts in Iraq. The 15-page report cites the director of public advocacy group OMBWatch as saying, we are "moving from a society based on the right to know to one based on the need to know." — Posted at 4:10 pm

U.S. REFUSES GERMAN COURT ON ACCESS TO SEPT. 11 CONSPIRATOR. U.S. authorities have rejected a German court's request that accused Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Shaikh Mohammed be allowed to testify in the trial of an accused al Qaida operative in Hamburg, The Associated Press reports. A letter from the U.S. Justice Department, read in court today in Germany, reportedly "gave no reasons why Mohammed would not be allowed to appear" in the trial of Abdelghani Mzoudi, who is charged with providing logistical support to al Qaida. Mzoudi has been charged with 3,066 counts of accessory to murder for his alleged connection to the Sept. 11 attacks. — Posted at 3:58 pm

CANADIAN CITIZEN SAYS HE WAS TORTURED IN SYRIA AFTER DETAINMENT BY U.S. The Washington Post details the story of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who says he was tortured for 10 months in a Syrian prison after U.S. authorities detained him in New York. Arar, 33, was detained Sept. 26, 2002, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where he was on a stopover while returning to Montreal from a family visit to Tunisia. As the Post account describes, Arar was transported without explanation by U.S. authorities to Washington and then Jordan, and ultimately taken to Syria, where he was held for 10 months in a tiny prison cell and, according to Arar, repeatedly endured beatings and other torture. He was never charged with a crime, and no connection to al Qaida has ever been publicly demonstrated. Arar denies any al Qaida link and says that he has never even been to Afghanistan. Intelligence officials told the Post that his case fits the profile of a covert CIA operation known as an "extraordinary rendition," in which a terrorism suspect is turned over to a foreign intelligence service, possibly to enable the victim to be tortured without direct U.S. involvement. Click here to read Arar's Nov. 4 statement to the media describing his detainment. — Posted at 09:03 am

Nov. 5, 2003

FBI TO MONITOR GROUPS FOR THREATS Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was to issue new intelligence guidelines today that allow the FBI more leeway in monitoring group memberships in its national security investigations; however, the guidelines caution that "preliminary and full investigations of groups and organizations should focus on activities related to threats to the national security, not on unrelated First Amendment activities," Washington Post reporter Susan Schmidt reported today. A declassified version of the new guidelines made available to the Post was heavily redacted. — Posted at 5:32 pm

ALJAZEERA CAMERAMAN ARRESTED (AGAIN). Aljazeera TV is reporting that U.S. occupation forces have arrested an Aljazeera cameraman in Iraq for the second time in less than a month. Salah Hasan arrived at the scene of explosions in Baquba on Monday and was arrested only minutes later. Hasan was among several international journalists on the scene who were asked for their IDs. Hassan was the only one arrested. The rest were allowed to go," an Aljazeera spokesman said. — Posted at 4:17 pm

REPORTERS COMMITTEE URGES HIGH COURT TO REVIEW 9/11 SECRECY CASE The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court this week, urging the court to accept review of a Sept. 11-related case that has been conducted in near-total secrecy. The case, M.K.B. v. Warden, involves an Algerian-born Florida man - whose name has been publicly reported as Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel - who was detained for five months after Sept. 11, 2001, for reasons that have never been publicly disclosed. All pleadings in the case are sealed, all hearings have been conducted in secret, and even the titles of all but two of the 65 docket entries are listed as "SEALED." Bellahouel's petition for review by the Supreme Court is available, but only in heavily redacted form. Details of the case, including the alleged Sept. 11 connection, were first reported in a series of articles by Dan Christensen of the Miami Daily Business Review , including a story today that summarizes the proceedings to date. The case has also received media attention today from The Washington Post and the Associated Press. For more information, see the press release issued yesterday by the Reporters Committee. — Posted at 2:48 pm

MILITARY USE OF PRIVATE EMPLOYEES HARMS TRANSPARENCY. The increasing use of private contractors to do work formerly performed by the military makes it more difficult to accurately portray what is going on in Iraq, according to an Associated Press report. Transparency rules and Congressional oversight that apply to the military do not apply to the private employees. It has been estimated that there is one private contractor for every 10 soldiers in Iraq. Private contractors perform duties from food preparation to training Iraqis to providing armed security. Deaths among these private contractors are not counted among the official tally of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, and when asked who they work for the contractors often respond "no comment" or "I can't tell you that." — Posted at 2:25 pm

MEDIA ACCOUNTS DIFFER ON IDENTIFICATION OF 20TH HIJACKER. USA Today reported today that the government is "fairly confident" it has identified an unnamed al Quida operative as the suspected "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11 attacks, but aspects of the story were quickly disputed in stories by Reuters and CNN. The USA Today account, by Toni Locy, quotes a "top federal law enforcement official" as saying, "We are fairly confident we know who No. 20 is." The official also reportedly said the suspect is not accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui or alleged paymaster Ramzi Bin al-Shibh. According to Reuters and CNN, however, other law enforcement officials are denying the report, saying it is more of a "theory" at this point. — Posted at 2:22 pm

DEMS CONSIDER INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON IRAQI PRE-WAR INTELLIGENCE Reuters reports that, according to a leaked memo drafted by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrats may call for an independent commission to investigate the White House's use of intelligence to justify war with Iraq. The memo illustrates frustrations members of the committee have had with White House refusals to turn over information. According to the memo, an independent commission could be called for when cooperation with Republicans on the committee is no longer productive, and the best time to call for the commission would be next year. The memo does not mention that this would coincide with next year's presidential election. Senior Democrat on the committee, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WVa), said that the draft memo was probably taken from the trash or by unauthorized computer access. — Posted at 2:14 pm

AUSTRALIAN TERROR SUSPECT MAY BE CLOSE TO TRIAL, LAWYER SAYS. According to a report today in the The Age [Melbourne, Australia], Australian terror suspect David Hicks has been moved to an isolated section of the base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. His lawyer told The Age that the move may signify that Hicks is being prepared for trial, although the lawyer said that U.S. officials haven't explained the move. In a separate story, The Australian reports that Hicks is "wasting away," according to a letter Hicks sent his father through the Red Cross. The U.S. still has not filed charges or initiated military tribunal proceedings against Hicks or any of the other approximately 660 detainees at Guantanamo. — Posted at 2:12 pm

Nov. 4, 2003

NO KAY REPORT TO UN. The Washington Post reports that the UN has reiterated its request for a copy of the classified version of David Kay's report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. "If there are weapons, we would like to find [them]; if there are no weapons, we would like to conclude the issue," Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Post. The IAEA has been charged by the UN with verifying the elimination of Iraq's WMD program, but left the country before the war and has not been allowed by the United States to return — Posted at 1:00 pm

MORE BARK THAN BITE. The $87 billion Iraqi spending package approved by the Senate Monday also creates a watchdog inspector general position to monitor spending by the Coalition Provisional Authority, Knight Ridder News Service reports. The postion was created in response to reports of cost overruns and the awarding of contracts without competitive bidding in the Iraqi rebuilding process. The inspector general must submit quarterly reports to Congress, but the reports may be redacted in whole or in part by the president for national security reasons. — Posted at 11:40 am

EDITORIAL: GUANTANAMO ACT WEARING THIN. An editorial in Monday's Washington Post criticizes the U.S. government for its continued foot-dragging on providing legal process for the 660 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Post points out that it has now been well over a year since a senior Pentagon official said of military tribunals, "Pretty much, we're ready to go." Consequently, the editorial says, the chief prosecutor's declaration last week that their start is "imminent" should "perhaps be taken with a grain of salt." The Post urges that charges be filed against those who can be brought to trial, and that the military set up "some orderly and transparent process" to review the cases of those who cannot. — Posted at 11:12 am

Nov. 3, 2003

FIRST TERRORISM CASES MAY HIT HIGH COURT THIS WEEK. With cases generated by the Bush administration's response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, now reaching the Supreme Court in substantial numbers, the court faces a basic decision apart from the merits of any individual case: whether to become a player in the debate over where to set the balance between individual liberty and national security. In today's New York Times, Linda Greenhouse reports that there may be an indication of whether the court intends to remain on the sidelines as early as this week. — Posted at 4:24 pm

SECRETIVE DEPORTATION PRACTICES PROMPT WAVE OF APPEALS. The National Law Journal reports that appeals from decisions of the Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA) have surged dramatically since February 2002, when Attorney General Ashcroft announced procedural changes ostensibly aimed at reducing a backlog of unresolved cases. The revised rules permit the BIA to affirm deportation orders without issuing an opinion in virtually all cases, making appellate review difficult. The story reports that appeals from the BIA to federal circuit courts rose nearly 400 percent in the 12-month period ending in March 2003. Moreover, as of March 2002, more than half of all BIA decisions were summary affirmances without an opinion, and the BIA's rate of reversing the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had declined from about 25 percent to about 10 percent. — Posted at 3:03 pm

WHITE HOUSE TO RELEASE WMD INTELLIGENCE REPORTS TO SENATE. Reuters reports that in a reversal of its earlier position, the White House has agreed to turn over documents on Iraq's weapons of mass detruction to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The documents contain intelligence used to justify the U.S invasion. The White House had refused to turn over the documents by a Friday, Oct 31 deadline, but then agreed on Sunday to cooperate. White House spokesman Trent Duffy said that while the committee did not have jurisidiction to compel the White House to turn over the documents, the administration would comply in a "spirit of cooperation." No timetable has been set for exactly when the documents will be turned over. Senior Democrat on the committee Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)told CNN, "I want to see documentation before I'm satisfied. I want to know that we really have it in hand." — Posted at 2:54 pm

BAD NEWS? BLAME THE MEDIA. The Bush administration has begun what has been described as an anti-media media blitz, to spread news of progress here that it says reporters ignore, according to a story in Sunday's New York Times by reporter Raymond Bonner. Many journalists dispute that critique, pointing out that the restoration of electricity, the relative calm of northern and southern Iraq and the reopening of schools have been reported alongside the attacks that have kept the American death toll rising in Baghdad and central Iraq. Bonner says that tensions between officials and journalists are nothing new, particularly in war zones; But today in Baghdad, where the Coalition Provisional Authority can better control access to information, the atmosphere has become very different. It is almost impossible for a journalist to talk to any official from the authority without getting the approval of a public information officer. If civilian authorities here see reporters as ignoring good news, reporters view the coalition public information officers as determined to withhold information, out of fear that it would become "bad news." The result is gaps in information that make it harder for American readers to assess just how good or bad the news really is. — Posted at 1:13 pm

THE MATRIX: REVELATIONS. The ACLU has filed FOI requests in Connecticut, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania for information about the new Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information eXchange (MATRIX) database surveillance system. Little is known about the program, which is run by a private company, Seisint, Inc. The ACLU hopes to find out what information sources MATRIX will draw on, who will have access to that information and how it is used. The ACLU has called MATRIX a state-run equivalent of the Total Information Awareness program that was terminated by Congress. — Posted at 1:09 pm