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.

Apr. 29, 2004

GOVERNMENT PANS AL JAZEERA. The New York Times reported today that Secretary of State Colin Powell has protested the broadcast of "inflammatory" reports by Qatar's government-financed television channel Al Jazeera to Qatar officials and confronted Arab news executives with a list of perceived abuses. The State Department would not say what action Powell sought from Qatar. The newspaper reports that the Bush administration's dissatisfaction with Al Jazeera and the Saudi based station Al Arabiya has grown with its recent efforts to rout rebels. The administration points to reporting on casualties and Osama bin Laden without what it would call the appropriate context for war. — Posted at 4:53 pm

KEEPING SAFETY SECRET. President Bush signed a secret directive intended to protect the nation against bioterrorism, The New York Times reports. The directive reportedly coordinates efforts by multiple agencies, creates a common surveillance system and calls for the Department of Homeland Security to evaluate the plans effectiveness every four years. — Posted at 2:39 pm

HIGH COURT HEARS ARGUMENT ON MILITARY DETENTION OF U.S. CITIZENS. The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in the cases of Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi, American citizens who are being held indefinitely in secret military detention on the basis of the Bush administration's assertion that they are "enemy combatants." Complete audio of both arguments is available here. Linda Greenhouse of The New York Times reports that a majority of the justices expressed some concern about the administration's position - which, if accepted, would give the President almost unlimited power to detain citizens secretly, indefinitely, and without charges - but that "it was far from clear" by the end of the hearing that the Court would intervene to stop the practice. Charles Lane of The Washington Post and David Savage of the Los Angeles Times also found the Court hard to read. For a more irreverent take, see Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, who points out the remarkable claim of Bush lawyer Paul Clement, during the Hamdi argument, that the military interrogation process itself provides a detainee with adequate due process. — Posted at 2:35 pm

SYSTEM OF SECRECY. An article in the Boston Phoenix examines "four distinct ways" in which the Bush administration is aggressively working to prevent public scrutiny. "[I]t has widened the range of classification and otherwise confidential (but non-classified) materials. It has expanded its ability to criminally prosecute government employees who leak such materials. It has signaled a willingness to move against reporters who publish those leaks. And, most significantly, it is using new 'material support' statutes to do an end run around the First Amendment and criminalize many forms of political advocacy." — Posted at 2:32 pm

ACLU BRINGS LAWSUIT CHALLENGING PATRIOT POWERS. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the FBI's use of national security letters to obtain business records from Internet service providers, according to The Washington Post. Although the lawsuit was filed three weeks ago on April 6 in U.S. District Court in New York, rules contained in the USA PATRIOT Act kept the case under seal until the ACLU worked with the Justice Department to reach an agreement that allowed the group to release a heavily redacted version of the complaint. According to the Post, Ann Beeson of the ACLU remarked that "It is remarkable that a gag provision in the PATRIOT Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court." The complaint alleges that the national security letters, which pursuant to the PATRIOT Act allow the FBI to request financial records and other documents from businesses without judicial approval, are unconstitutional. — Posted at 1:32 pm

Apr. 28, 2004

INCREASED CLASSIFICATION HURTS SECRECY According to Secrecy News, a report to President Bush by the Information Security Oversight Office shows that classification of information is up 25% over last year, with over 14 million new "secrets." The report states, "Allowing information that will not cause damage to national security to remain in the classification system, or to enter the system in the first instance, places all classified information at needless increased risk." — Posted at 6:16 pm

NO PUBLIC ACCESS, NO OATH, NO RECORD There will be no record of the President and Vice President's joint appearance before the 9/11 commission, USA Today reports. Bush and Cheney are scheduled to appear together before the full commission tomorrow, privately and not under oath. Normally, the commission prefers to keep a record of testimony, but the White House has requested that no stenographer be present. — Posted at 4:15 pm

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS TO GAG FORMER FBI TRANSLATOR The [UK] Independent reports that the Bush administration is seeking to block a former FBI translator from testifying about pre-Sept. 11 evidence that al Qaida planned to attack the U.S. with aircraft. The translator, Sibel Edmonds, has been subpoenaed to testify in a civil lawsuit brought by relatives of victims and survivors of the attacks against international banks and two members of the Saudi royal family for allegedly aiding al Qaida. But the Justice Department, citing a rarely used "state secrets privilege," has asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to quash the subpoena. An attorney for the families told the Independent that the FBI is motivated by avoiding embarrassment, not protecting state secrets, and expressed doubt that Edmonds knows anything with national security implications. — Posted at 4:11 pm

Apr. 27, 2004

LEGISLATORS PUSH FOR PRESIDENTIAL DISCLOSURE ON $40 BILLION FUND. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.) and Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), the ranking Democrats on congressional appropriations committees, complained to President Bush that the administration has constantly failed to explain to Congress how it has used a $40 billion emergency fund approved days after the September 11 attacks. The congressmen told the White House, "Transparency in this regard is critical." — Posted at 6:40 pm

EDITORIAL URGES COURT TO FIND \"ENEMY COMBATANT\" DETENTIONS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. In an editorial today, The New York Times urges the Supreme Court to find unconstitutional the detentions of American citizens Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi, whose cases will be heard by the Court tomorrow morning. The Times argues that the government has set a "frighteningly low standard for itself, saying it needs only 'some evidence' that a citizen has 'associated' with a terrorist organization 'bent on hostile acts' to hold him indefinitely." The cases present the issue of whether the President has the authority, as part of his constitutional war-making powers, to order the secret, indefinite detention in military custody of U.S. citizens, without charges, on the basis of an assertion that they are "enemy combatants." — Posted at 6:18 pm

Apr. 26, 2004

FOIA MAY TRUMP PHOTO-BAN POLICY The Boston Herald reports that the Pentagon may review its policy banning photos of soldiers' coffins returning from overseas. Last week, Air Force officials released the photos under a Freedom of Information Act request after reviewing case law and determining that the photos were releasable. The Pentagon quickly ordered that no more photos be released in keeping with a policy established by President George H.W. Bush during the first Gulf War, and reiterated by the current administration. The current review of the policy is to see if it is consistent with the requiremnts of the Freedom of Information Act. The policy has already survived a previous challenge brought under the First Amendment. — Posted at 5:58 pm

HOMELAND SECURITY FOI REPORT \'PRETTY GOOD\' A Dallas Morning News assessment of the Department of Homeland Security's first year of Freedom of Information Act processing finds that "[f]or a department criticized for its secrecy, Homeland Security comes off pretty good in an initial assessment of how it handles information requests, granting almost half during its first eight months of existence." Of the 161,00 requests it received the agency fully granted 47 percent, partially granted 40 percent and denied 1 percent of all requests. The greatest number of denials were to protect personal privacy. Reporter Jennifer LaFleur, who analyzed the agency's first annual FOI report, said the numbers could change as the department begins to put into effect rules protecting critical infrastructure information which it hopes to gather from private companies. — Posted at 4:13 pm

Apr. 23, 2004

SENSITIVITY TO ANONYMOUS COFFINS TRUMPS FOIA. President Bush sees the photos of flag-draped coffins returning to the U.S. as an invasion of the dead soldiers' families' privacy, the Guardian (UK) reports. "America knows full well that our men and women are serving and serving brilliantly both in Iraq and around the world. ... America is aware this is a war against terrorism," said Bush spokesman Trent Duffy. "The message is, the sensitivity and privacy of families of the fallen must be the first priority." — Posted at 4:27 pm

IRAQ IS TREACHEROUS FOR JOURNALISTS. Conditions in Iraq have become so treacherous for journalists that the networks and cable channels have taken the unusual step of coordinating their coverage in unprecedented ways. The NewsHour's Terence Smith discusses reporting in Iraq with John Burns, Baghdad bureau chief of The New York Times; and Eason Jordan, chief news executive for CNN . — Posted at 1:44 pm

SENATORS SQUARE OFF OVER FOI ISSUES. During an hour-long talk before several hundred members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Newspaper Association of America, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) squared off over the difficulty of balancing FOI with the post-Sept. 11 need to prevent terrorism. Hatch took editors to task for failing, in some cases, to properly explain what the Patriot Act does and doesn't do. The GOP senator praised the legislation, which granted new power to shield government documents from public view and give government agencies more latitude in obtaining information previously deemed private. But Editor and Publisher reports that Leahy countered with allegations that the legislation curbed the media's and public's ability to get information, while also allowing the Bush administration to ignore demands for more openness. "I have never seen such a lack of cooperation during my time in Washington," said Leahy, noting he had served in the Senate during six presidential administrations. — Posted at 1:37 pm

BREMER AND WOLFOWITZ WANT TO TRADE TRANSPARENCY FOR EXPEDIENCY. The Coalition Provisional Authority is seeking exemptions from rules designed to ensure transparency in contracting, the Financial Times reports. CPA administrator Paul Bremmer argues that the transparency provisions that ensure competitive bidding on government contracts are slowing reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the House armed services committee, "We have red tape and bureaucracy that's gotten in the way." — Posted at 11:08 am

BANNED PHOTOS RELEASED TO WEBSITE UNDER FOIA. The Memory Hole, a website dedicated to combating government secrecy, obtained photos of returning military coffins via a Freedom of Information Act request, The New York Times reports. The Pentagon, which has banned public access to the returning coffins at Dover Air Force Base, called the Air Force's decison to release the photos a mistake, and barred their further release, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 361 photos have since been used by a number of news agencies. According to The Washington Post, the apearance of the photos on The Memory Hole website came a day after a military contractor, Maytag Aircraft, fired two employees in Kuwait for photographing the coffins at the airport. — Posted at 10:41 am

APPEALS COURT SAYS MOUSSAOUI CAN BE TRIED, IS SUBJECT TO DEATH PENALTY. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled Thursday that Sept. 11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui may be prosecuted without access to captured al Qaida witnesses and is subject to the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. The panel, which was split 2-1 on some issues, ordered U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, of Alexandria, Va., to oversee a compromise in which written summaries, culled from secret interrogation reports, will be used in lieu of live testimony. The outcome is widely seen as a victory for the government, which can now prosecute Moussaoui without giving him direct access to the witnesses, can introduce evidence related to the Sept. 11 attacks (previously barred by Brinkema), and can seek the death penalty. But in a finding with potential significance for future terrorism cases, the panel rejected the Bush administration's claim that a U.S. district court lacks authority to order the deposition of a witness captured in the war on terror and held outside the court's borders. The court ruled that it is the identity of the custodian - a U.S. official, in this case Secretary Rumseld - that is important, not the identity of the prisoner or the location of confinement. The court's opinion is available here, and additional details can be found in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times . — Posted at 09:57 am

Apr. 22, 2004

CONTRACTOR FIRED FOR COFFIN PHOTO. A military contractor has fired the Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in Sunday's edition of The Seattle Times. Tami Silicio was fired Wednesday for violating U.S. government and company regulations, said William Silva, president of Maytag Aircraft, the contractor that employed Silicio at Kuwait International Airport. Her photograph, taken earlier this month, shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins in a cargo plane about to depart from Kuwait. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the United States. — Posted at 4:23 pm

NEWSWEEK: WOLFOWITZ SOUGHT TO LABEL YOUSEF AS ENEMY COMBATANT. Newsweek reports that shortly before the U.S. went to war in Iraq, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz repeatedly pushed a proposal to label Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, as an "enemy combatant" in the war on terror. The designation would have allowed the U.S. military to interrogate Yousef secretly and without a lawyer present, in order to win a confession that Yousef was actually an Iraqi intelligence agent, as Wolfowitz had long suspected. The plan was shelved after the Justice Department concluded that Yousef didn't meet the legal criteria for enemy-combatant status, but, according to Newsweek, the episode "sheds new light on the Bush administration's willingness to expand its use of enemy-combatant declarations inside the United States" beyond the three who have already been designated. — Posted at 4:21 pm

ARMY CHAPLAIN GAGGED BY MILITARY. ABC News reports that Capt. James Yee, the Army chaplain who was recently cleared of all charges after originally being suspected of spying for al Qaida, has now received a gag order from his commander, Lt. Col. Marvin S. Whitaker. Yee received a memorandum ordering him to refrain from, among other things, speech that "undermines the effectiveness of loyalty, discipline, or unit morale." The memo also threatens him with punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. His attorney, Eugene Fidell, told ABC News that the memo defines prohibited speech so broadly that it effectively prevents Yee from speaking at all about his experience. — Posted at 2:21 pm

DATE SET FOR NON-PUBLIC BUSH/CHENEY TESTIMONY. The Washington Post reports that President Bush and Vice President Cheney will appear before the 9/11 commission on Thursday, April 29. Their joint appearance will not be public and they will not testify under oath. — Posted at 2:20 pm

Apr. 21, 2004

VETO EXPECTED ON WISCONSIN FOI EXEMPTION. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to veto a bill that would exempt utility company emergency security plans from the state's open records law. The utility companies and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Bob Cowles (R-Green Bay), argue that making the plans public would help terrorists attack utilities. State newspaper editors and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council say that the current balancing test in the open records law works fine without adding a specific, absolute amendment. — Posted at 4:29 pm

THE NINE MOST POWERFUL AMERICANS ARE THE MOST DISTANT FROM THE REST OF US. Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff writes this week that of all American institutions, the Supreme Court is the most distant from the rest of us. \"The late justice William Brennan told me he wanted its oral arguments open to television because he felt strongly that most Americans had little sense of how this body - which makes decisions affecting millions of us - actually arrives at those decisions,\" Hentoff wrote. Amazingly few people have ever seen or Supreme Court Justice or could recognize on on the street. — Posted at 2:54 pm

Apr. 20, 2004

RIDGE RATCHETS UP SECURITY. The federal government plans to "ratchet up" security through early 2005 based on concerns that terrorists will strike during high-profile political, economic and athletic events, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Monday in remarks at the Radio Television News Directors Association convention in Las Vegas. As part of an effort to ensure that timely, accurate information is communicated during a crisis, Ridge announced a new program with the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences to co-host 10 regional exercises that will bring together members of the media and government public information officers. — Posted at 3:14 pm

JUSTICES APPEAR DIVIDED IN GUANTANAMO DETAINEE CASE. The Supreme Court heard oral argument today on whether the federal courts have jurisdiction to hear legal challenges brought by detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Prison. The Washington Post reports that the court "seemed divided along its usual left-right lines," meaning the case could come down to the swing vote of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor or Anthony M. Kennedy. The Bush administration contends that it has the authority to hold enemy combatants captured abroad in indefinite, secret detention in a U.S.-controlled facility without charges and without access to the courts of any country. An audio recording of the argument is available here. — Posted at 3:01 pm

BUSH PUSHES PATRIOT ACT. President Bush has been calling on Congress to pass a permanent version of the USA PATRIOT Act. According to The Washington Post, Bush told a convention of Pennsylvania township officials Monday that Congress must renew the PATRIOT Act and "make all of its provisions permanent." Republican officials told the Post that Bush plans to make the PATRIOT Act a central theme of his campaign to highlight the steps he took to combat terror after the 9-11 attacks. In his weekly radio address last Saturday, Bush said that the PATRIOT Act provides law enforcement with essential tools and that: "Some politicians in Washington act as if the threat to America will also expire" when certain provisions of the Act sunset at the end of next year, The New York Times reports. But lawmakers of both parties have said that the purpose of the sunset provision is to allow Congress to review the law and make sure the administration did not abuse the powers granted under it, the Post notes. — Posted at 2:02 pm

Apr. 19, 2004

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR GUANTANAMO CASE TOMORROW The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument tomorrow on whether the Bush administration may continue to hold Guantanamo inmates in secret detention for an indefinite term, without filing charges and without allowing them any access to U.S. courts or other elements of due process. An editorial in today's New York Times urges the high court to reject the Administration's position, calling it "legally and morally wrong" and pointing out that the detainees, although captured abroad, are now being held by the U.S. military in U.S.-controlled territory, undermining the government's comparison of them to enemy combatants held in Germany during World War II. More detailed previews of tomorrow's argument can be found in The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and Time, among others. Meanwhile, Newsweek has a story on the origins of the Bush administration's policy for secret detention of terror suspects. — Posted at 4:35 pm

PHOTO OF FLAG-DRAPED COFFINS CAUSING A STIR. While Newsday published a story today about the U.S. government's ban on photographing flag-draped coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base, the Seattle Times explained its decision to publish a photograph of coffins being loaded into a transport plane in Kuwait. Click here to see Tami Silicio's photograph. — Posted at 4:26 pm

PUBLICITY MAY HAVE THWARTED TERROR ATTACKS. The commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has concluded that the hijackers would probably have postponed their strike if the U.S. government had announced the arrest of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 or had publicized fears that he intended to hijack jetliners, according to The Washington Post. A report about the case released last week noted that "publicity about the threat" posed by Moussaoui "might have disrupted the plot." Commission Chairman Thomas H. Kean (R) said the conclusion is based in part on extensive psychological profiles of the Sept. 11 hijackers, who were "very careful and very jumpy." "Everything had to go right for them," Kean said. "Had they felt that one of them had been discovered, there is evidence it would have been delayed." — Posted at 4:23 pm

RICE CRITICIZES WOODWARD BOOK. On Sunday talk shows, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice denied that the President decided to invade Iraq in January 2003 as The Washington Post's Bob Woodward writes in "Plan of Attack," currently serialized in the Post. Instead, Rice said the decision came two months later after the administration exhausted efforts to prevent the war. The Los Angeles Times covered the interview with Rice about Woodward's book. The statement in the book by Woodward, is "simply not, not right," Rice said on CBS' "Face the Nation." Bush speculated in January 2003 that war was probably inevitable, but that was not a decision, she said. — Posted at 4:14 pm

PUBLIC REPORT ON NUKES RELEASED According to Global Security Newswire, the Dept. of Energy has finally released a two-year-old independent review of problems with U.S. nuclear weapons programs. The review, which is required by law to be public, was withheld because it contained "sensitive information." It was released following pressure by the media and Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass). — Posted at 09:30 am

ADMINISTRATION PLANNING MADE WAR INEVITABLE A Washington Post article on Friday briefed "Plan of Attack." Bob Woodward's book on the Iraq war planning describes repeated meetings between the President and Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his war cabinet to plan the attack in Iraq. The meetings took place throughout 2002 despite Bush's and adminstrative spokespersons' claims that they were pursuing a diplomatic solution. Although the President, in a three and on-half hour interview with Woodward, defended the secrecy and described the war as his "absolute last option," the book details how it would have been difficult to reverse the planning. Woodward is an assistant managing editor at the Post . — Posted at 09:26 am

Apr. 16, 2004

CIA WARNED OF ISLAMIC EXTREMIST ATTACKS IN 1995. The CIA warned as early as 1995 that Islamic extremists were likely to attack U.S. aviation, Washington landmarks or Wall Street and by 1997 had identified Osama bin Laden as an emerging threat on U.S. soil, a senior intelligence official said Thursday. Associated Press reporter John Solomon reports that the official took the rare step of disclosing information in the closely held National Intelligence Estimate for those two years to counter criticisms in a staff report released Wednesday by the independent commission examining pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures. That staff report accused the CIA of failing to recognize al-Qaida as a formal terrorist organization until 1999 and mostly regarding bin Laden as a financier instead of a terrorist leader during much of the 1990s. But the U.S. intelligence official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the 1997 National Intelligence Estimate produced by the CIA, which remains classified, mentioned bin Laden by name as an emerging terrorist threat on its first page. The National Intelligence Estimate is distributed to the president and senior executive branch and congressional intelligence officials. — Posted at 12:35 pm

SECRET WARRANTS UP 85 PERCENT. The Associated Press reports that the number of secret surveillance warrants requested by the FBI has increased 85 percent in three years, from 934 in 2001 to more than 1,700 in 2003. The secret warrants, used to spy on suspected terrorists, are prepared by the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review and approved by a secret court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But the Sept. 11 commission released a report this week finding that the soaring rate of FISA requests has created substantial bottlenecks in the system. The AP reports that Attorney General Ashcroft is attempting to address the problem by issuing new guidelines governing the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. — Posted at 10:55 am

Apr. 15, 2004

GUANTANAMO DETAINEES SEEK THEIR DAY IN COURT. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument next week on whether those secretly detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can challenge the legality of their confinement in U.S. courts. In Slate, Charles Lane has an analysis of Johnson v. Eisentrager, the 1950 case on which their chances may rest. There, the high court ruled that alleged German war criminals held abroad by the U.S. military were beyond the jurisdiction of the American courts. Now, the Bush administration is relying on Eisentrager to ward off judicial review of its actions in Guantanamo, although as Lane points out, the cases differ in several notable respects (such as that the Gitmo detainees have not been judged guilty). — Posted at 2:36 pm

Apr. 13, 2004

HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT BACKS OFF CLOSURE OF IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS. On the heels of a Justice Department investigation that exposed abuses in the treatment of hundreds of post-Sept. 11 detainees, the Homeland Security Department announced today that it is adopting safeguards to protect immigrants from indefinite detention without individual oversight of their case, the Associated Press reports. Among other changes, Homeland Security officials will no longer seek closed hearings in immigration court proceedings for entire groups of detainees. Reuters and The Los Angeles Times also are reporting on the new policy. — Posted at 5:38 pm

MILITARY OPENING DOORS TO MEDIA IN GUANTANAMO. As the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects faces legal challenges, Knight-Ridder News Service reports that military authorities have allowed unprecedented media access to prison operations in a bid to dispel what they call "the myth" of human rights violations. For the first time since terrorism suspects were brought to the base two years ago, authorities in recent weeks opened the door to rooms used for interrogations, provided limited information on efforts to gather intelligence from prisoners and showed off a courtroom where military tribunals likely will be conducted. They also allowed some photographs of restricted areas and permitted interviews with interrogators and others who deal with the prisoners. The new access comes as attorneys for the families of 16 captives are seeking access to federal courts to challenge their indefinite detention. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments April 20. — Posted at 5:02 pm

NETWORKS POOLING COVERAGE IN FALLUJAH. Concerned about the safety of their journalists, five American television networks have taken the unusual step of pooling resources to cover fighting in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News Channel have agreed to share the reports of a single camera crew embedded with the U.S. military in Fallujah, the city that's been at the center of Iraqi violence since four American contractors were killed March 31. Illustrating the danger, a CNN assignment editor in the pool, Tomas Etzler, was slightly wounded in the head and back during an attack Monday, said Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive. — Posted at 3:41 pm

GENERAL DENOUNCES ARAB TELEVISION REPORTS. The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq denounced two Arab television networks Monday, accusing them of lying about American attacks in the city of Fallujah. Army Gen. John Abizaid said Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya were broadcasting false reports that American troops were deliberately targeting civilians in Fallujah. The predominantly Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad has been the site of fighting between insurgents and American troops after a mob mutilated the bodies of American security contractors killed in a March 30 ambush. — Posted at 3:38 pm

HALF OPEN IS HALF CLOSED. An OMB Watch review of classification decisions by the Bush administration shows that it is using classification selectively to further political goals. Normally classified data, such as the secret testimony of Richard Clarke and intercepted communications between Iraqi officers, were released to undermine Clarke and support the war in Iraq. William Leonard, director of the government's Information Security Oversight Office said "it's not unheard of, but it's not routine." — Posted at 2:34 pm

COMMISSION LOOKING FURTHER INTO AUG 6 MEMO. The 9/11 commission wants to interview the CIA analyst who authored the Aug 6, 2001 President's Daily Brief titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S," The Washington Post reports. In the past, the Bush administration has maintained that people who advise the White House should not be subject to questioning. The analyst was questioned last year by a joint House-Senate committee, but not about the Bin Laden brief — Posted at 2:13 pm

SUNSHINE SOUGHT FOR SECRET SOLDIERS. The Washington Post reports that more oversight of private contracted security forces in Iraq is sought by the Coalition Provisional Authority. The call for oversight follows the brutal killing of four security contractors in Iraq two weeks ago. It is estimated that 20,000 such private soldiers are currently in Iraq under U.S. contracts. The proposed plan whould require their employers to provide their names, contracts and weapon serial numbers to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. — Posted at 1:52 pm

SHUTDOWN OF NEWSPAPER LED TO FALLUJAH UPRISING. A report in Sunday's Washington Post details how the U.S. military's shutdown of al-Hawza, a newspaper run by Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr, provoked a violent backlash that evolved into the major fighting now underway in Iraq. "Several American and Iraqi officials now regard Bremer's move to close the newspaper as a profound miscalculation based on poor intelligence and inaccurate assumptions," The Post reports. The paper was closed because its content was "deemed by U.S. officials as incitements to violence - a violation of one of Bremer's decrees." — Posted at 11:34 am

Apr. 12, 2004

CLASSIFIED REPORT RELEASED. The White House released the Aug. 6 2001 briefing detailing intelligence on known al Qaeda operations within the U.S. Saturday evening, The Washington Post reported. The entire previously classified document was released. Although the document had previously been described by the White House and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice as containing only "historical" information, President Bush on Sunday agreed with a reporter that the brief contained "ongoing" and "current threat information," but said that there was no "actionable intelligence." — Posted at 09:37 am

Apr. 10, 2004

SLOW READERS. According to The Washington Post, the possible release of a 1 1/2 page memo detailing pre-9/11 U.S. intelligence about al Qaeda has been delayed until at least next week. The classified Aug. 6, 2001 President's Daily Brief titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." has been a source of controversy before the 9/11 commission, which is demanding its release. The brief details ongoing al Qaeda activities within the U.S., including hijacking preparations and plans for attacks with explosives. The Bush administration says the document is "historical" and contains no warning or threat information. The White House indicated Thursday that it could be declassified within a day, but on Friday announced that release would be delayed until at least next week. — Posted at 9:48 pm

Apr. 9, 2004

TEXAS CITY REFUSES TO RELEASE DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS; CITES TERROR THREAT. City officials in Roanoke, Tex., have asked the Texas attorney general's office whether they must release development documents concerning Citibank's planned electronic data processing center. In a letter dated Thursday, Roanoke City Attorney Jeff Moore argued that disclosing information about such "critical infrastructures" could make the city vulnerable to terrorism. Documents requested by the Star-Telegram on March 26 could identify technical details of the complex - including entrances and security features such as a perimeter berm - that could be used by terrorists to harm business, Moore wrote. The Star-Telegram is seeking access to the Citibank development site plan, and letters, photos and drawings related to the project. — Posted at 3:26 pm

CONTRACTORS LURED INTO IRAQI AMBUSH. It appears that the four private security contractors killed, burned and mutilated in Falluja last week were in fact lured into a carefully planned ambush by men they believed to be friendly members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, according to Patrick Toohey, a senior executive at the security firm, Blackwater USA. The Iraqi men, Toohey told The New York Times, promised the Blackwater-led convoy safe and swift passage through the dangerous city, but instead, a few kilometers later, they suddenly blocked off the road, preventing any escape from waiting gunmen. Two senior Pentagon officials said Thursday that they could not independently confirm the conclusions of the Blackwater investigation, and that a separate military inquiry was continuing. — Posted at 3:18 pm

RICE TESTIFIES; COMMISSION WANTS RECORD DECLASSIFIED. Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, testified Thursday that Bush was warned a month before the Sept. 11 terror attacks that the FBI had detected "suspicious activity" that suggested terrorists might be planning a domestic hijacking. She said he was also told that the bureau was conducting 70 investigations of possible terrorist cells connected to Al Qaeda operating within American borders. Rice acknowledged that the special intelligence briefing that had been requested by Mr. Bush and presented to him on Aug. 6, 2001, at his Texas ranch had carried an ominous title: "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." Members of the commission, who have been allowed to read the August 2001 report but have not been allowed until today to discuss most of its contents, joined unanimously on Thursday in calling for the entire document to be declassified and made available to the public. In response, the White House said it was hurriedly trying to declassify the report, and White House aides said it could be made public as early as Friday, an extraordinary reversal by the White House given its insistence a year ago that the contents of the President's Daily Brief were so highly classified that they could not be released even to the commission. — Posted at 3:11 pm

Apr. 8, 2004

TRANSCRIPTS OF COMMISSION TESTIMONY POSTED. GlobalSecurity.org has posted transcripts of testimony before the commission investigating 9/11. Click here to go to an index and links to the transcipts, including testimony from Condoleeza Rice, George Tenet and Richard Clarke. — Posted at 4:52 pm

COMMISSION DEMANDS CLINTON WHITE HOUSE DOCUMENTS. The commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks announced Wednesday that it has identified 69 documents from the Clinton era that the Bush White House withheld from investigators and which include references to al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and other issues relevant to the panel's work. The White House turned over 12 of the documents to the commission Wednesday, officials told The Washington Post. But 57 others, which were not specifically requested but "nonetheless are relevant to our work," remain in dispute, according to a commission statement. The panel has demanded the documents and any similar ones from the Bush administration. — Posted at 4:47 pm

MARINES RELEASING FEWER DETAILS OF COMBAT DEATHS. U.S. forces have suffered their bloodiest week in Iraq since just before the fall of Baghdad a year ago, reporting 40 combat deaths in the seven days from March 31 to April 6. U.S. military deaths in Iraq since the invasion now total 635, including 444 caused by hostile fire. The Washington Post reports that the number of wounded has reached 2,988. In a departure from casualty reporting practices by U.S. forces in Iraq over the past year, the Marine Corps adopted a policy last month of disclosing only the number of Marines killed on any given day. Marine casualty announcements now generally list the cause of death simply as "enemy action." Occasionally a phrase is added saying the deceased were engaging in "security and stability operations" when they died. By contrast, announcements of Army war dead continue to give at least the time of day that an attack occurred, the nearest town and the nature of the attack. In an explanatory note often posted with its death announcements, the Marine Corps calls the lack of detail a "force protection measure," saying the release of more information could aid enemy fighters "in assessing the effectiveness or lack thereof with regard to their tactics, techniques and procedures." But the Marine policy has drawn objections from some defense officials, who have argued for making the Marine announcements consistent with Army ones. — Posted at 4:29 pm

9/11 TRANSCRIPTS POSTED ON THE INTERNET. The Memory Hole has posted 9/11 documents previously withheld by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on the Internet. These transcripts of phone calls and radio transmissions, and copies of police reports, were finally released under a federal order resulting from a lawsuit brought by the New York Times. The Times originally sought the actual recordings but eventually settled for transcripts. The transcripts were released by the agency that built and ran security at the World Trade Center -- the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A good portion of the documents are from handwritten and typed notes of Port Authority police and civilian employees recounting afterward what had happened. The rest of the documents are transcriptions of conversations over nearly 100 telephone lines and civilian radio channels. — Posted at 4:20 pm

GERMANS RELEASE TERRORISM SUSPECT. A German court on Wednesday released Mounir el-Motassadeq, the only man convicted in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, pending a new trial later this year. The New York Times reported that the release of Motassadeq, who was serving a 15-year sentence on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder, followed a decision by a German appeals court last month to reverse his conviction. The court ruled that Mr. Motassadeq had been denied a fair trial because of the refusal of the United States to allow testimony by a captured terrorist suspect, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 plot who is in American custody. — Posted at 3:14 pm

Apr. 7, 2004

ACLU FILES LAWSUIT. A secret "no-fly" list the federal government maintains of terrorist suspects has been used to humiliate and stigmatize innocent citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union charged Tuesday in filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of seven individuals, The Washington Post reported. Each of the passengers was stopped on multiple occasions at airports by airline and security personnel and extensively questioned, searched and publicly singled out as posing a security threat after being told their names were on the no-fly list, the suit said. In each incident, they were allowed to board their flights after extensive efforts to prove they were not the same person as the suspected terrorist on the government's list. Click here to read the ACLU press release about the lawsuit. — Posted at 5:01 pm

Apr. 6, 2004

ACLU CHALLENGING \"NO-FLY\" LIST. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the government's "no-fly" list of people believed to be the greatest threats to commercial aviation. The list is put together by the Transportation Security Administration and given to airlines with instructions to stop anyone on it. The civil rights group is representing seven plaintiffs. TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said there actually are two lists administered by the TSA: no-fly and selectee. Those on the no-fly list are not allowed to board an aircraft. Those on the selectee list must go through more extensive screening before boarding. Little else is known about the lists, including how many people are on them and how they qualify to get on or off. — Posted at 1:54 pm

AVERAGE TERRORISM SENTENCE IS 14 DAYS, STUDY SAYS. The Justice Department has convicted 184 individuals in international terrorism cases within the two years following Sept. 11. But the average sentence in those convictions has been 14 days in prison with only three people sentenced to five years or more, according to a December study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse - a research institute associated with Syracuse University that collects data of government law enforcement. "Most of those arrested cop a plea," said William Banks, a professor of law at SU who teaches courses on domestic and international terrorism told The Daily Orange at Syracuse University. "It's no different from those who get speeding tickets." But unlike those stopped for speeding tickets, terrorism suspects face the prospect of expensive legal fees, long prison terms and a media frenzy surrounding a trial. The study also showed an increase of convictions in major terrorism cases, including domestic and financial, from 96 convictions in the two years prior to Sept. 11 to 341 in the two following it. — Posted at 1:48 pm

9/11 REPORT TO BE CENSORED. The White House will screen the report of the 9/11 commission "line-by-line" before it is released to the public, The Washington Post reports. The review is required by law to remove sensitive intelligence information. "We're not going to let them distort our report ... We do not want to put out a report with heavy redactions in it," commission vice chairman and former Senator Lee Hamilton said. The White House review will not mean that the report is delayed until after the November election commission chairman Thomas Kean said, according to USA Today. — Posted at 09:51 am

NOT REVERSING, JUST CHANGING POSITION. The Los Angeles Times reports that the White House has agreed to give the 9/11 commission access to previously withheld Clinton records. The withheld records were recommended for release by custodians, but the White Hose witheld them saying they were not relevant. White House spokesman Trent Duffy said that the administration was not reversing but merely trying to accommodate a new and broader request from the commission. — Posted at 09:49 am

Apr. 5, 2004

WHERE\'S THE INFO ABOUT THE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL? An editorial in today's Washington Post takes the U.S. government to task for the complete absence of information about the war crimes tribunal created by the Coalition Provisional Authority in December. — Posted at 4:30 pm

SHIITES RALLY TO ANTI-AMERICAN PUBLISHER Opposition to the American-led occupation of Iraq is invigorated by the closing of a weekly newspaper Al-Hawza published by a zealously anti-American Shiite cleric, the Associated Press reported today. Muqtada al-Sadr, 30, whose late father was gunned down in 1999 by suspected agents of the regime of Saddam Hussein, published the newspaper that was shut down March 28 by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer. Bremer said the newspaper incited violence against coalition troops. AP reports that al Sadr's supporters are "well-organized and led by young, motivated clerics." He has a large following among Shiites in Baghdad's poor neighborhoods and in southern cities of Iraq, according to the report which speculates that closing the newspaper has opened a new front against the coalition. — Posted at 4:27 pm

Apr. 2, 2004

INCOMPLETE CLINTON RECORDS FOR 9/11 COMMISSION The Washington Post reports that the Bush administration is refusing to turn over thousands of President Clinton's documents to the 9/11 commission. Only about 25 percent of the 11,000 records that custodians have recommended for release have been turned over. White House spokesman Scott McCormack says the withheld documents are not relevant. Clinton's attorney, Bruce Lindsey, first complained about the withholding in February. "I voiced a concern that the commission was making judgment on an incomplete record," he told The New York Times. "I want to know why there is a 75 percent difference between what we were ready to produce and what was being produced to the commission." — Posted at 4:17 pm

CRITICISM COUNTERED WITH RECORDS RELEASE The White House has released documents detailing pre-Sept 11 plans for dealing with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Reuters reports. The release of the Sept 4, 2001 directive was in response to critics who have accused the administration of being focused on missle defense instead of terrorism prior to the Sept 11 terrorist attacks. The critics have cited excerpts of a speech national security advisor Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to have made on 9/11 about missile defense. The White House will not reveal the entire text of the cancelled speech. — Posted at 4:14 pm

ASNE PROTESTS SHUTDOWN OF NEWSPAPERS. The American Society of Newspaper Editors wrote Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday urging that he use his influence on American administrator Paul Bremer III and occupation forces in Iraq so that they will cease the practice of padlocking newspapers and shutting down their presses. Bremer sent forces Sunday to close the Shiite weekly Al Hawza because it stirred hatred, undermined stability and indirectly incited violence by printing false anti-American rumors. The New York Times called the scene "distressingly evocative of neighboring Middle Eastern autocracies." Writing for Newsday, First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams said "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." — Posted at 4:11 pm

15 MORE RELEASED FROM GITMO, BUT SECRECY PERSISTS The Defense Department announced today that it is releasing 15 more men from secret detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. According to the news release, the men came from "several countries, including Afghanistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Sudan, Iraq, Jordan, and Yemen." But the Pentagon did not release the names of the men, who were never charged with a crime; nor did it provide any details about the circumstances under which they were detained or why they are no longer considered dangerous. The Pentagon did assert, once again, that there is a "comprehensive interagency process" in place to determine who should be released. Details of that process remain secret as well. — Posted at 4:08 pm

BUSH ADMINISTRATION WITHHOLDS 75 PERCENT OF CLINTON RECORDS Only about 25 percent of former President Clinton's 11,000 pages of records have been turned over by the Bush Administration to the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Associated Press reported today. Bruce Lindsay, Clinton's legal representative to the panel, said the failure to turn over the other records could lead to erroneous panel conclusions. In its assessment the panel could miss documents that contradict its findings, Lindsay said. The Presidential Records Act seals a former president's records for 5 years but the Bush administration and the National Security Council agreed to make these records available to the panel. — Posted at 1:14 pm

PROSECUTORS EXPANDING PLAME LEAK INQUIRY, NYT REPORTS Prosecutors investigating the leak of C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame's identity have expanded their probe to examine whether White House officials lied to investigators or mishandled classified information, The New York Times reports. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor appointed to lead the investigation, is reported to be examining possible discrepancies between documents relating to the case and statements made last fall by current and former White House officials during interviews with federal investigators. Fitzgerald is also reported to be investigating whether Plame's identity came from classified documents within the White House. The Times also reports that lawyers involved in the case say Fitzgerald is close to the end of the investigation. — Posted at 12:54 pm