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.

Mar. 31, 2004

THE SENSITIVE ISSUE OF DECLASSIFICATION. The Washington Post today explores allegations that the administration's "uneven decision-making on which sensitive documents it declassifies has prompted criticism that the White House is selectively releasing information to justifies its foreign policy decisions and respond to political pressure." — Posted at 4:23 pm

CIA HOLDS BACK RESERVATIONS ON ACTIVITIES. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) complained yesterday about the way the CIA was declassifying information, noting that the public version of a report by Iraq weapons inspector Charles Duelfer left out information that raised doubts about Duelfer's "suspicions as to Iraq's activities." Levin asked the CIA to declassify more of the report "so the public can reach their own conclusions." Duelfer reportedly responded that the two versions of his testimony "mirror each other, consistent with the protection of sources, methods and other classified intelligence information." — Posted at 3:45 pm

Mar. 30, 2004

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TRAMPLING ON FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY. Two Cox Newspapers editors, Carlos Sanchez of the Waco (Tex.) Tribune and Marc Masferrer of the Lufkin (Tex.) Daily News, wrote in Op/Ed columns over the weekend on the extremes the federal government has gone to to trample on freedom and democracy by keeping secret how it is using the American justice system to fight the war on terrorism. "Under the guise of national security, our federal government has taken nearly unprecedented steps to operate in secrecy," Sanchez wrote. — Posted at 1:39 pm

WEB SECRECY DOESN\'T HELP SECURITY. Secrecy News reports that a study by the RAND Corporation concludes that information on government websites is of little use to terrorists. "Whole libraries" of information have been removed from government websites since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks for fear that terrorists would use the info to plot more attacks. The study found that the removed information, while valuable to the public, would not be helpful to terrorists because they could get the same or better info from direct observation or other sources. — Posted at 1:29 pm

ANTHRAX LESSONS PARTIALLY LEARNED. After a two-year fight, the Pentagon agreed to release portions of an unclassified report titled, "Lessons from the Anthrax Attacks: Implications for U.S. Bioterrorism Preparedness," The New York Times reports. The study, which questions U.S. preparedness against a biological assault, was the result of unclassified discussions and public materials, but the Pentagon has resisted disclosure arguing it "could potentially aid enemies of the U.S. in development of techniques to defeat W.M.D. response efforts." Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Goverment Secrecy called the information withheld "arbitrary and unjustified." The report is available from the Project on Government Oversight. — Posted at 1:13 pm

SECRECY IS ADMINISTRATION\'S SOP. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. describes the Bush administration's standard operating procedure since Sept. 11, 2001 as: Do whatever is necessary to intimidate and undercut all who raise questions about the president's handling of terrorism, answer as few of those questions as possible and keep as many secrets as you can. That is why the Richard Clarke story just keeps getting bigger, Dionne says. He notes that the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan made the war on secrecy one of the last great causes of his public life. Moynihan observed that when government agencies keep secrets from each other, top officials are denied the information they need when they need it. "Secrecy," Moynihan declared, "can confer a form of power without responsibility about which democratic societies must be vigilant." — Posted at 1:07 pm

JUDGE DELAYS HATFILL LAWSUIT. A federal judge said Monday that confidential information recently provided to him by the Justice Department shows that the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks is now at a "critical" and "sensitive" stage and could unearth significant leads by early July, according to the Washington Post. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said the FBI investigation should be allowed to proceed "in an unfettered way," and he granted the government's request to postpone for six months the defamation lawsuit that former Army scientist Steven J. Hatfill filed last summer against the department and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. The judge said that, for now, the complex search for the person who sent the anthrax-laced letters outweighs Hatfill's contention that Ashcroft and other federal authorities ruined his life by calling him a "person of interest" in the case. — Posted at 1:04 pm

COMMISSION TO HEAR RICE IN PUBLIC; BUSH/CHENEY IN PRIVATE, BUT NO MORE. The Baltimore Sun reports that national security advisor Condoleezza Rice will testify publicly and under oath before the 911 commission. The White House has also agreed to allow President Bush and Vice President Cheney to testify jointly before the entire commission, although in private and not under oath. Previously, Bush and Cheney were to testify separately before only two members of the 10-member commission. The White House announced the change in position after a flurry of criticism surrounding public comments and testimony under oath by former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke. In return, the White House is demanding that the commission agree in writing that it will ask for no more testimony from any White House official, and that the testimony will not set a "precedent." A sepatate story in The Baltmore Sun questions the validity of the White House's argument that allowing Rice to testify would violate constitutional principles of separation of powers and executive privilege. Those doctrines may prevent some compelled testimony by executive officials, but not voluntary testimony. — Posted at 12:59 pm

U.S. MILITARY CRITICIZED FOR CLOING IRAQI NEWSPAPER. In an Op/Ed in today's Newsday, noted First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams writes that "Of all the messages the United States could send to the people of Iraq, the sorriest is this: If you say things we disapprove of, we'll shut you up." That, Abrams says, is precisely the message American administrator Paul Bremer has sent to Iraq by shutting down Al Hawza, an anti-American newspaper that frequently criticizes U.S. conduct in that country. According to the media liaison for the U.S.-administered government, the "false information" in the paper "was hurting stability." An editorial in today's New York Times also criticized the closure of the Iraqi newspaper. "Newspapers like Al Hawza do not create the hostility Americans face in Iraq - they reflect it," The Times concluded. "Shutting them down, however satisfying it may feel to the Bush administration, is not a promising way to dissolve that hostility." — Posted at 12:46 pm

Mar. 29, 2004

CLARKE WANTS HIS TESTIMONY DECLASSIFIED. Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism chief under attack by the Bush administration over his criticism of its actions before Sept. 11, said Sunday that all his private testimony and e-mail exchanges with his former boss should be made public. Click here to read a transcript of his interview with NBC's Meet the Press. — Posted at 5:28 pm

PROSECUTORS TURN TO IMMIGRATION CHARGES WHEN CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IS INVOLVED. The immigration case of Majed Hajbeh is an illustrative example of how prosecutors sometimes turn to immigration rather than terrorism charges when classified documents are involved. They often can't reveal such information because it would expose sources or tip off others under investigation, law enforcement analysts told the Washington Post. "You may know something and know it 100 percent . . . but you may not be able to use it [in court]. That happens all the time," said Matthew Levitt, a former FBI counter-terrorism analyst who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. — Posted at 5:23 pm

G.I.S SHUT DOWN BAGHDAD NEWSPAPER. The New York Times reports that American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad newspaper on Sunday and tightened chains across the doors after the occupation authorities accused it of printing lies that incited violence. Thousands of outraged Iraqis protested the closing as an act of American hypocrisy. — Posted at 5:20 pm

UNCLASSIFIED REQUEST FROM NUKE OWNER CALLED SENSITIVE. A legal dispute has arisen from an unclassified request by a nuclear power plant operator for an exemption from certain parts of federal new security requirements, according to the Washington Post. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has deemed the Duke Power Co.'s request sensitive, and declared that its release would bring criminal prosecution. Critics who allege the standards are already too lax have filed a challenge to the exemption request, which the commission has also declared is too sensitive to be released. It is but one example of the manner in which post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism controls -- even those concerning unclassified information -- have altered the landscape of public debate about security matters. Civil defense arrangements that were once the subject of mostly open rulemaking or debate are now often decided under a cloak of secrecy covering all but industry and government participants. — Posted at 5:14 pm

RICE: WRONG WAY TO TALK ABOUT IT. Defending the Bush administration's counterterrorism stance Sunday on CBS's 60 Minutes, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that the United States is safer today because of its worldwide "umbrella of intelligence and law enforcement." She said that al Queda is no more dangerous today than it was on September 11, 2001 and that the world is safer and "well-served by the victory in Iraq." When her interviewer noted more terrorist attacks occurred in the 30 months since Sept. 11 than in the 30 months before it, she responded: "That's the wrong way to look at it." In his interview with Rice, CBS Correspondent Ed Bradley focused on Rice's refusal to testify in public and under oath before the Sept. 11 panel. The Washington Post said two Republican officials indicated that there is discussion in the White House about ways to compromise with the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks. The two could not be identified, the Post reported because they are not supposed to talk to reporters. — Posted at 3:18 pm

UPDATE ON TREATMENT OF IRAQI DETAINEES. The Boston Globe reports that about 5,500 of the 8,000 security detainees in Iraq are being held in a prison where at least six American MPs have been criminally charged with abuse. Moreover, The Globe reports, hundreds of Iraqis freed last week say they were never told of the reasons for their arrest, in apparent violation of U.S. military policy requiring a face-to-face explanation of charges and rights within 72 hours of detainment. — Posted at 3:17 pm

Mar. 26, 2004

WHITE HOUSE OFFERS RICE TO COMMISSION IN PRIVATE The New York Times reports that the White House has changed position, and is now offering to have national security adviser Condoleeza Rice testify again before the 911 commission. However the offer is only for her to testify in private and not under oath. Unlike other high-ranking Bush and Clinton administration officials, Rice has yet to testify publicly and under oath before the commission. The change in position comes after public testimony by former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke that was critical of the Bush administration's response to the 911 attacks, and criticisms that Rice, a high ranking member of the administration, was not cooperating with the commission. Rice has recently appeared publicly to accuse Clarke of being critical for political reasons and to sell books. — Posted at 4:14 pm

BUSH MORE SECRETIVE THAN NIXON? Secrecy News reports that according to "Worse Than Watergate," a new book by Nixon White House counsel and Watergate whistleblower John Dean, the current Bush administration is more secretive than the Nixon administration was. — Posted at 3:02 pm

Mar. 24, 2004

EDITORIALS BERATE YEE PROSECUTORS. Editorials in three major newspapers today lambasted the military's queer drop of espionage charges against Capt. James Yee with no apology and with broad unsupported hints that it had done nothing wrong. The New York Times, noting claims that charges were dropped only to avoid disclosing "sensitive" information, suggests military officials are only trying to avoid disclosure of the incompetence and mean-spiritedness of their own prosecution. In "Smearing Captain Yee, " The Washington Post says that as the six-month old case against Yee based on espionage claims fell apart, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller and his team "could not muster a touch of grace or forthrightly admit error." The Miami Herald calls on the Army to stop smearing Yee's reputation. No national security issues exist today that did not exist before the Army locked the muslim chaplain up for 76 days for mishandling classified information. By their logic no espionage case could ever be tried. — Posted at 4:29 pm

Mar. 23, 2004

PANEL URGES HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION NETWORK. Panelists at a Stanford University law school forum last week called for the creation of a homeland security information network and demonstrated a prototype of how such a system would work, according to the National Journal's Technology Daily. The panel, members of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, described a database-driven system that would allow officials from the Homeland Security Department to share information across agencies. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Markle Foundation President Zoe Baird said, "you heard a lot of talk about how we couldn't connect the dots. The information revolution that had taken place in the nation and much of the world had not taken place in government. Unfortunately, this far out after (the attacks) the government has not taken advantage of information technology to improve security." — Posted at 3:56 pm

Mar. 19, 2004

IRAQI JOURNALISTS DIS POWELL. Iraqi journalists walked out of a Baghdad news conference by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday in protest at the lack of security and the killing of two Iraqi journalists by U.S. troops. Powell urged U.S. allies to stay the course in Iraq after Spain vowed to pull out troops and South Korea refused to take on a combat role. Reuters reported that about 30 Iraqi journalists quit the hall in anger at Thursday's shooting of two colleagues who worked for the Dubai-based satellite television channel Al Arabiya. "We declare our condemnation of the incident which led to the killing of the two journalists...at the hands of the American forces," declared Najim al-Rubaie of Iraq's Distor daily as Powell and Iraq's U.S. governor Paul Bremer looked on. — Posted at 4:48 pm

Mar. 18, 2004

JOURNALISTS KILLED IN IRAQ. Three Iraqi journalists were killed and nine other employees of Diyala TV, a coalition-funded station, were wounded in northeastern Iraq after gunmen opened fire on them. Later in the day, American soldiers shot and killed a man during a rocket attack on a Baghdad hotel. The all-news station Al-Arabiya said that the man was a cameraman for the station who was covering the attack, but a military spokesman later said the man was trying to run a checkpoint. — Posted at 5:22 pm

THE SPANISH SOLUTION The New York Times reports that Spain's intelligence agency will declassify its records to answer critics accusing the government of using the March 11 train bombings for political gain. The critics have accused the Spanish government of hastily blaming Basque separatists in order to influence the March 14 elections in its favor. The agency will release its documents from March 11-14 to show that it initially believed the separatists were the perpetrators. "We can lose elections but the government cannot sit by while it is called a liar," Labour Minister Eduardo Zaplana said. — Posted at 3:23 pm

Mar. 17, 2004

PENTAGON SAYS IT DOESN\'T KNOW NUMBER OF IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. It has been nearly a year since the war in Iraq started but the New York Times reports today that American military commanders are just now reckoning with the volume of civilian casualties streaming in for assistance. Twice a week, at a center in Baghdad, masses of grief-weary Iraqis line up, some on crutches, some disfigured, some clutching photographs of smashed houses and silenced children, all ready to file a claim for money or medical treatment. It is part of a compensation process devised for this war. Military officials say they do not have precise figures or even estimates of the number of noncombatant Iraqis killed and wounded by American-led forces in Iraq. "We don't keep a list," said a Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell. "It's just not policy." But nonprofit groups in Iraq and the United States say there were thousands of civilian casualties. — Posted at 5:04 pm

PERVERSELY, DISCLOSURE RULES COULD LEAD TO SECRECY. The Department of Homeland Security's guarantees of secrecy for critical infrastructure disclosures have been criticized as too extreme, The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer reports. Under regulations effective Feb. 18, private companies are encouraged to disclose potential weaknesses to terrorism and other dangers to the department with the understanding that those disclosures will not be made public. But watchdog and environmental groups say this could help hide industry wrongdoing. "What we're concerned about is that the companies are going to use this to submit information to the government as a way of getting a free pass from regulation," said Reporters Committee executive director Lucy Dalglish. — Posted at 5:01 pm

FREED GITMO DETAINEES TELL OF TREATMENT. Three Afghans released from secret detention at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, offered varying accounts of their treatment to The New York Times. One of the men, Haji Osman, said he was treated humanely, while two - Muhammad Sidiq and Aziz Khan - painted "a darker picture" of their confinement, according to The Times. Sidiq said he was frequently beaten by American troops, echoing a complaint made last week by three Britons. — Posted at 3:21 pm

ALABAMA CONSIDERS NEW FOI EXEMPTION. The Alabama legislature is considering a bill that would exempt "security" information from the state open records laws, The [University of Alabama] Crimson White reports. The bill would exempt records, discussions or information related to security plans. William Stewart, former head of the UA political science department, is concerned that the legislature would use such a law to keep other information from the public. "I'd rather not be cynical about it," he said, but also pointed out that "when we have laws that address problems that don't seem to be problems, that's an overreaction." — Posted at 3:19 pm

Mar. 16, 2004

RANGEL RESOLVES TO RESTORE DOVER OPENNESS. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution last week calling for the removal of all restrictions on the public, the press, and mourning military families that currently prohibit them from witnessing America's war dead return from Iraq and Afghanistan. At an anti-war vigil Sunday in Dover, Del., where soldiers' bodies are returned, and in a news release from his office, Rangel said, "The cloak of secrecy that currently surrounds America's fallen heroes prevents the nation from recognizing the sacrifices made in the war." He said, "We have lost more than 560 American military men and women in Iraq. Yet even the President said in his State of the Union address, 'I know that some people question if America is really in a war at all.'" Rangel's resolution would call to re-open bases such as Dover AFB to families as well as the press, provided that families' privacy is respected. — Posted at 4:51 pm

BUSH ADMINISTRATION EXPANDS GOVERNMENT SECRECY.. Cox News Service reporter Rebecca Carr reports that in its first two years alone, Bush administration officials made some 44.5 million decisions to classify records and related documents. That's roughly the same number of classification decisions made during President Clinton's last four years. And Bush has expanded the number of officials who can hide records from public view, granting classification powers to the secretary of agriculture, the secretary of health and human services and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. This power historically has been reserved only for federal agencies involved with national security, such as the departments of Defense, State and Justice. — Posted at 4:32 pm

FABRICATED INTELLIGENCE WENT TO ADMINISTRATION, NEWS OUTLETS. Knight Ridder newspapers reported today that a former Iraqi exile group that fed the Bush administration exaggerated and fabricated intelligence also gave the information to newspapers and magazines, and that the administration's belief that Saddam Hussein was hiding biological and chemical weapons, was developing nuclear weapons and was somehow connected to Osama bin Laden was reinforced by the news articles. — Posted at 4:25 pm

Mar. 12, 2004

INVESTIGATION OF MISSED AIRSTRIKE KEPT SECRET The U.S. military will not publicly release a report on a U.S. airstrike that killed nine children in Afganistan, CBS reports. The airstrike was targeted at a suspected Taliban militant, but was not successful. The military is refusing to release the "top secret" report because of "the intelligence involved and the targeting involved." The military has since modified its rules of engagement, but declines to give details. — Posted at 5:01 pm

NEW FOIA EXEMPTION FOR SPRING OMB Watch reports that, according to the Department of Justice, the new Critical Infrastructure Information rules establish a new exemption category from the Freedom of Information Act. A DOJ memo sent to FOIA officers in all federal agencies says that the exemption applies only to information submitted directly to the Department of Homeland Security, but is expected to expand and "could be expected to have an impact upon the daily processes of FOIA administration at many agencies." — Posted at 3:41 pm

PODESTA BERATES \'CULTURE OF SECRECY\' John Podesta, former White House chief of staff under President Clinton told a Princeton audience Wednesday that "excessive secrecy does not lead to improved national security. Just the opposite has proved true. Of course, there are secrets worth protecting, but a culture of secrecy has led to regrettable policy choices, wasted resources and a decline in public trust." Podesta said, "It is my view that the current administration has ignored the lessons of the past and has compounded our security problems by withholding vital government information from the American public. The result has been corrosive for democracy. Public access to government information is a fundamental prerequisite to a functioning democracy." — Posted at 3:10 pm

Mar. 11, 2004

FBI SEEKS TO QUESTION REPORTER. Reporter John Sugg writes in this week's (Tampa) Weekly Planet that the FBI wants to question him about his conversations with Sami Al-Arian, a South Florida professor who was fired after being accused of terrorist fundraising. Specifically, he says, the FBI has asked about sources Sugg spoke of during a conversation with Al-Arian that was taped by the FBI. "We want to know your sources...Who are your sources in the Justice Department and the FBI?" Sugg quotes the agent as asking. — Posted at 2:57 pm

Mar. 10, 2004

TENET FACES TOUGH QUESTIONS. Tuesday's testimony by CIA Director George Tenet before the Senate Armed Services Committee produced interesting new information about what information the White House used to make decisions about invading Iraq, and where they got it. The New York Times and the Washington Post reported that Tenet told the committee that he had privately intervened on several occasions to correct what he regarded as public misstatements on intelligence by Vice President Dick Cheney and others, and that he would do so again. The Los Angeles Times reported that a special intelligence unit at the Pentagon privately briefed senior officials at the White House on alleged ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda without Tenet's knowledge. — Posted at 5:18 pm

LEVIN HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR CREDIBLE INTELLIGENCE. In opening remarks before the Armed Services Committee hearing intelligence Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) called the intelligence assessments on weapons of mass destruction that triggered the war in Iraq a "fiasco." He said: Owning up to, critically examining and correcting our failures are necessary first steps to assuring ourselves and our allies that our intelligence is objective, of high quality and reliable. The Intelligence Community told the nation and the world before the war that Saddam Hussein had in his possession stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons; that he was reconstituting his nuclear weapons program; that he had mobile trailers for producing biological agents; that he had small unmanned aerial vehicles intended to deliver biological weapons; and so on. The nation and the world were told that Saddam was in actual possession of weapons of mass destruction and was producing more. Not just that he intended to get them. Not just that he had a program for weapons of mass destruction, or that he was engaged in "WMD-related program activities." And not just that Saddam Hussein hadn't satisfactorily explained what happened to the weapons of mass destruction that we knew he had after the Gulf War ten years earlier. No: his possession of stocks of weapons of mass destruction was what made the threat so immediately ominous. Initiating a war on the basis of faulty or exaggerated intelligence is a very serious matter. That's just as true if one supported the war or not. And that's just as true if Iraq ultimately turns out to be a stable democracy, which we all hope and pray that it does. Life and death decisions are based on intelligence. The fact that the intelligence assessments before the war were so wildly off the mark should trouble all Americans. — Posted at 11:44 am

9-11 COMMISSION MAY GET MORE THAN 1 HOUR WITH BUSH. The White House is no longer insisting that President Bush's testimony before the Sept. 11 commission be limited to one hour, The Washington Post reports. "Nobody is watching the clock," press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters. It is unclear if Vice President Cheney will also now testify for longer than an hour. Both will still testify in private, and before only two members of the commission. The change in postition came one day after Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry criticized Bush for finding time to attend a Houston, Texas, rodeo while claiming he would only spend one hour with the commission, Reuters reports. — Posted at 09:29 am

Mar. 9, 2004

POWELL IS STICKING WITH THE STORY. Reporting about an interview of Secretary of State Colin Powell on Fox News, Agence France Presse said Powell unexpectedly expounded upon the issue of whether the Bush administration has misled the nation about the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. That subject should be off limits in the impending political debates, Powell said. "It isn't right." He would "stick with what we said," and not start "changing views." — Posted at 4:35 pm

KARL ROVE\'S TESTIMONY IN LEAK INVESTIGATION REVEALED. President Bush's chief political advisor, Karl Rove, told the FBI that he circulated and discussed information about undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame with White House staff, political consultants and journalists, according to The American Prospect. However, Rove insisted during the October meeting that he was not responsible for leaking Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak and that he discussed Plame after columnist Robert Novak revealed Plame's identity in a July column. Rove told the FBI about an aggressive smear campaign against Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had criticized the Iraq war. The Prospect also reports that federal investigators are seeking the identity of an administration official who told The Washington Post that two administration officials called six journalists before Novak's column appeared and disclosed Plame's identity, and believe that the Post's source will have information about the leaks to Novak. — Posted at 3:12 pm

BLIX: U.S. PRESSURED INSPECTORS FOR REPORT OF WEAPONS. The Washington Post reports on former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix's "Disarming Iraq" published today in the United States and Europe in which Blix recounts the unsuccessful pressures he felt from the United States, from early conversations until two weeks before it attacked Baghdad, to tell the U.N. Security Council that Iraq had violated U.N. resolutions. Blix comments on the "rather discourteous tone" of Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf on the day before Blix's final report urging him to reinterpret evidence. Blix provides his impressions of early briefings by Vice President Richard Cheney, President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell. — Posted at 2:01 pm

Mar. 8, 2004

BRITISH OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT\'S IMPACT ON MEDIA EXPLAINED. When the former overseas development minister, Clare Short, disclosed details of the British secret services' alleged bugging activities at the United Nations, she caused a political furore. Many commentators believe that her disclosures constitute a breach of the Official Secrets Act 1989. British attorney Dan Tench writes in The Guardian that media organisations that reveal secret government information also face potential criminal liability under this act. In addition, they may have to disclose their sources. — Posted at 4:47 pm

U.S. REVEALS DETAILS OF CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH MUSLIMS. The U.K.'s Telegraph reports that the United States has disclosed its case against four imprisoned British Muslims it says were trained al-Qa'eda terrorists who would return to the fight if released. Senior US officials, abandoning their policy of keeping secret the details of the allegations against the Guantanamo detainees, said they were convinced that if freed all four would pose "a serious threat" to America and Britain. The four men trained at al-Qa'eda terrorist camps in Afghanistan, US officials claimed. They allegedly learned such skills as bomb-making, assassination and urban warfare. — Posted at 4:40 pm

WHITE HOUSE TO TURN OVER AIR FORCE ONE PHONE RECORDS. Aides to President Bush have agreed to turn over a log of a week's worth of telephone calls from Air Force One and other records to satisfy subpoenas from a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's identity, White House officials told the Washington Post. The grand jurors also asked the White House to surrender two years of records of any conversations about the case with reporters, including approximately 25 who were specified by name. — Posted at 3:30 pm

Mar. 5, 2004

FEDERAL GRAND JURY SUBPOENAED WHITE HOUSE. Newsday reports that a federal grand jury investigating the leak of the idenitity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, issued three subpoenas to the White House on Jan. 22. The subpoenas ask the Executive Office of President Bush to produce records of Air Force One telephone calls in the week before Plame's identity was revealed in Robert Novak's July column. Also sought are records created in the White House Iraq Group and a transcript of a White House press briefing in Nigeria. One subpoena seeks records of White House contacts with over two dozen journalists and news organizations, including Novak, Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell and reporters for Newsday, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. — Posted at 3:31 pm

Mar. 4, 2004

REPORTER CLEARED ON TRESPASS CHARGE. A judge threw out a defiant trespass charge against a Pittsburgh reporter who was cited after he and a "60 Minutes" crew demonstrated how easy it was to enter a chemical plant unnoticed last fall. — Posted at 5:23 pm

\'BUSH SHOULD COME CLEAN\' ON WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION Christian Science Monitor writer Tom Regan reviews current media stories on the Bush administration's apparent misinterpretation of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. — Posted at 5:21 pm

PENTAGON PROPOSES DETAINEE REVIEW POLICY The Defense Department yesterday released a draft policy for a three-member board to conduct annual reviews of Guantanamo Bay detainees, to determine whether they should continue to be held in secret as enemy combatants. The draft policy -- which, even if implemented, is discretionary and could be revoked or not followed at any time -- would permit detainees to explain to a three-officer board why they should no longer be considered a threat to the United States. Detainees would have the assistance of a military officer but not a lawyer, as Stuart Taylor of The National Journal points out. Taylor also observes that there is a presumption of guilt, not innocence, under the policy. The Associated Press reports that human rights groups have criticized other aspects of the proposals as well. — Posted at 4:09 pm

Mar. 3, 2004

INFRASTRUCTURE RESTRICTIONS ISSUED, MORE LIKELY. Secrecy News reports that the Department of Justice has posted a discussion of new Department of Homeland Security regulations exempting "critical infrastructure information" from disclosure. The regulations are still in "interim final" form, meaning they are in effect, but subject to revision after another round of public comments. DOJ says that the regulations are likely to be expanded to cover information submitted to agencies other than the Department of Homeland Security. — Posted at 11:30 am

Mar. 2, 2004

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE WANTS TANKER DECISION AIRED. Congressional Quarterly today reported that a united Senate Armed Services Committee is seeking more internal administration records that show how key decisions were made in proposing the acquistion of refueling tankers from Boeing and how the proposed acquisition was crafted. Both committee chair John Warner (R-Va.) and ranking Democrat Carl Levin (D-Mich.), in speaking to military secretaries before the committee, urged that they honor a request for full disclosure made earlier by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Reuters reported Monday that Air Force Secretary James Roche, in response to questioning by McCain, denied that records given the committee were falsified but admitted that staff had "amended" documents felt to be misleading and omitted others. McCain had accused Air Force of hiding data that undercut a $27.6 billion deal with Boeing on hold pending a criminal probe. McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has accused the Air Force of trying to hide data that undercut its drive to lease and buy 100 Boeing Co. 767s -- a $27.6 billion deal now on hold pending a criminal probe. — Posted at 3:05 pm

Mar. 1, 2004

PENTAGON LAUNCHES NEWS SERVICE. The U.S. military will launch its own news service in Iraq and Afghanistan to send military video, text and photos directly to the Internet or news outlets, The Associated Press reports. The $6.3 million project, expected to begin operating in April, is one of the largest military public affairs projects in recent memory, and is intended to allow small media outlets in the United States and elsewhere to bypass what the Pentagon views as an increasingly combative press corps. U.S. officials have complained that Iraq-based media focuses on catastrophic events such as car bombs and soldiers' deaths, while giving short shrift to U.S. rebuilding efforts. — Posted at 5:23 pm

RELEASED BRITISH RECORDS SHOW HASTILY REVISED WAR OPINION. The Christian Science Monitor looks at British news accounts of how Lord Goldsmith, British attorney-general, expressed doubts about the legality of the United Kingdom's entry into the war in Iraq but "hastily" redrafted his opinion, just days before the United States and Britain began bombing, as Prime Minister Tony Blair faced what could have become a politically embarrassing refusal of the British military to illegally enter the fray. The Guardian and The Independent reported on previously unreleased documents from a recently dismissed case against Katharine Gun, accused of violating the Official Secrets Act for her efforts to reveal questions about the war's legality. — Posted at 2:19 pm