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.

Dec. 22, 2004

CIA MUST RESPOND TO FOI ACT REQUEST DESPITE ONGOING INVESTIGATION. A federal judge in New York has ruled that the CIA must respond to a FOI Act request for documents relating to the agency's investigation of detainee abuse, the Reuters wire reported Monday. The CIA had argued that it had no obligation to respond because its investigation was still active. Coloring his decision to order the response, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said, was the possibility that the investigation might never close. — Posted at 11:03 am

U.S. BANS TELEVISION NETWORK RUN BY HEZBOLLAH. The State Department has banned from U.S. airwaves a television network popular in the Arabic-speaking world, citing it as a supporter of terrorism, The Washington Post reported. "It's not a question of freedom of speech," State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said. "It's a question of incitement of violence. We don't see why, here or anywhere else, a terrorist organization should be allowed to spread its hatred and incitement through the television airwaves." — Posted at 10:38 am

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MEMO MAKES FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE. A controversial Justice Department memo written in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has been released to the public for the first time, MSNBC.com reported on Saturday. The September 25, 2001, memo argued that the president's constitutional powers permit him to order military attacks against any nation regardless of its involvement in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The article's author, Michael Isikoff, noted that just 11 days earlier, Congress passed a joint resolution with a much more limited view; that resolution only authorized the president to initiate military aggression against nations actually bearing responsibility for the September 11 attacks. — Posted at 10:27 am

HARD EVIDENCE LACKING IN MILITARY SPY PROBES. An article in Sunday's The New York Times detailed the slight evidence upon which the military relied in its recent failed prosecutions of translator Ahmad I. Al-Halabi of espionage, and chaplain James J. Yee of mishandling classified documents. Military officials interviewed for the story believed that suspicion of the defendants was fueled by personal conflicts with their peers. — Posted at 10:26 am

Dec. 21, 2004

NAVY SEAL CLEARED IN TERROR SUSPECT\'S DEATH. An unidentified Navy SEAL was acquitted of charges stemming from the beating death of a hooded, handcuffed terror suspect, The Associated Press reports. A second U.S. commando received probation for assaulting another prisoner. Both hearings, which were closed to the public, were held before SEAL Capt. James O'Connell outside San Diego. The Navy has not identified the two SEALs, who were involved in joint CIA- Special Forces missions, and a Navy spokesman said he was prevented from commenting by privacy laws. — Posted at 3:54 pm

FRENCH JOURNALISTS RELEASED IN IRAQ. After four months as hostages, two French reporters were released in Baghdad Tuesday and are expected home for Christmas, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said Tuesday. — Posted at 2:54 pm

EMBEDDED JOURNALIST DOCUMENTS MOSUL ATTACK. Jeremy Redmon, a Richmond Times-Dispatchprovided an account of the deadly rocket attack Tuesday in Mosul that killed 24 and wounded 64. The force of the explosions knocked soldiers off their feet and out of their seats. A fireball enveloped the top of the tent, and pellet-sized shrapnel sprayed into the men. Amid the screaming and thick smoke that followed, quick-thinking soldiers turned their lunch tables upside down, placed the wounded on them and gently carried them into the parking lot. — Posted at 2:50 pm

FBI MEMO: GUANTANAMO DETAINEES ABUSED. The Washington Post reports that an FBI memo released yesterday alleges that detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were shackled in the fetal position for more than a day, left without food and water, and allowed to defecate on themselves. Other newly disclosed documents show that FBI agents and officials saw growling dogs used to intimidate detainees, contrary to previous statements by the Defense Department. — Posted at 11:38 am

FOI RELEASES LINK PRESIDENT, AUTHORITY FOR TORTURE. An e-mail released yesterday by the FBI references direct Presidential authorization of torture techniques for Iraqi prisoners. The release came as a part of the agency's efforts under court order to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union. In a summary on its Web site, the ACLU said it is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of the order and to release it immediately if it does exist. The e-mail between FBI officials in May discusses Presidential authorization for sleep deprivation, use of dogs and other techniques. Another e-mail released yesterday describes FBI concern in December 2003 that Pentagon officials engaged in torture were posing as FBI. — Posted at 11:26 am

MULTIPLE MEDIA SUBPOENAS IN SUIT OVER ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION. At least 12 to 15 news organizations will receive subpoenas to provide documents and testimony in Dr. Steven Hatfill's Privacy Act lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials, Editor and Publisher reports. So far, the Associated Press and others have confirmed that ABC, AP, CBS, National Public Radio and The Washington Post have received subpoenas, and numerous other major news organizations are expected to receive subpoenas soon. Hatfill is suing over being named a "person of interest" in the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks and over alleged government leaks of information from the investigation to the press. Hatfill has not been charged in the investigation but lost his job as a government contractor and has been unable to find employment since being named. His lawsuit has been hampered by Department of Justice claims that submitting to Hatfill's discovery requests will jeopardize the investigation, so U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton has directed Hatfill to direct his requests to the media. Extensive background on the anthrax investigation and the reporting on Hatfill is contained in a November 2002 American Journalism Review article. — Posted at 11:23 am

Dec. 20, 2004

SOLDIERING ON. National Guard Spc. Thomas Wilson says his now famous armor question for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not come from a reporter, Editor & Publisher reports. The reporter, far from being the protagonist, suggested that he find "a less brash way of asking the question," but Wilson "told him no, that I wanted to make my point very clear. — Posted at 5:23 pm

THE BLOGGING FADHIL BROTHERS. Three Iraqi brothers are on the cutting-edge as Iraqi Internet bloggers, The Washington Post reports. Their English-language blog, IraqtheModel, is part journal, part travelogue and part political soapbox. — Posted at 5:20 pm

SECOND DETAINEE TO BE FREED FROM GITMO. The Associated Press reports that a second prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was determined to be classified wrongly as an enemy combatant, and will be released to his home country soon. Navy Secretary Gordon England refused to provide the man's name or nationality, and the circumstances of his original capture were not immediately available. The State Department has been notified of the decision and will make arrangements to return him home. — Posted at 3:32 pm

PUBLIC DENUNCIATION OF TORTURE NOT REFLECTIVE OF INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES, SECURITY OFFICIALS SAY. Numerous unidentified national security officials have described the U.S.'s public denunciation of torture as inconsistent with the government's actual practice, The Washington Post reported Thursday. "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job," one official stated. The article describes how the U.S. has been able to consistently dodge international interrogation standards at its detention centers in out-of-the-way places like the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean (leased from the British government); these centers are simply "off-limits to outsiders and often even to other government agencies." — Posted at 2:01 pm

GITMO GENERALS SAY RUMSFELD ORDERED INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES. An FBI memorandum claims that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the Defense Department's divergence from traditional interrogation techniques at Gitmo, Salon.com reported in its Friday edition. The memorandum, obtained by the ACLU pursuant to an FOI Act request, documents the FBI's opposition to what they viewed as abusive interrogation practices at Gitmo. Two Pentagon officials, Gen. Geoffrey Miller and Gen. Michael Dunlavey, told the FBI that their "marching orders" came from Rumsfeld. — Posted at 1:59 pm

EDITORIAL: US LETS ALI ROT. "The facts surrounding Ahmed Abu Ali's detention and possible torture in Saudi Arabia remain shrouded in diplomatic and law enforcement secrecy," says an editorial in The Washington Post. If Ali - an American who was arrested in June 2003 while taking an exam at a Saudi university, and been held without charge or access to counsel ever since - has committed a crime, he should be charged; if not, "the United States should not be encouraging, or winking at, his persecution." — Posted at 12:36 pm

WHAT A SHORT, STRANGE TRIP IT WAS. A former Grateful Dead songwriter who was ejected from a plane in 2003 after airport officials found drugs and paraphernalia in his luggage has become the latest litigant to seek information about the Transportation Security Administration's secret policies on screening airline passengers, The Washington Post reports. John Perry Barlow, who was removed from the plane before takeoff, is claiming that the marijuana and hallucinogenics taken from his bag cannot be admitted as evidence against him because they were seized illegally by ariport personnel at San Francisco International Airport. In his case, as in others, the TSA is refusing to reveal anything about its practices so as not to compromise "security sensitive information." — Posted at 11:37 am

Dec. 18, 2004

CIA RUNS SECRET PRISON AT GITMO. The Washington Post reports that the CIA has run a secret "prison-within-a-prison" at Guantanamo Bay for valuable al Qaeda captives. According to military and intelligence sources, the facility has held detainees from places such as Pakistan, West Africa and Yemen. It is unknown whether the isolated facility at Gitmo's Camp Echo is still in use; the CIA and Defense Department declined to comment. — Posted at 11:57 am

Dec. 17, 2004

EMBARGO DOES NOT BAR U.S. COLLABORATION WITH AUTHORS. On Thursday, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that U.S. publishers can collaborate with Cuban, Iranian, and Sudanese nationals on the creation of publications despite American embargoes against those countries, the First Amendment Center reported on its Web site Friday. Earlier this year, the embargo sparked a controversy when it blocked the publication of Iranian Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi's memoirs. — Posted at 2:04 pm

GUANTANAMO RENOVATIONS SPARK QUESTIONS ABOUT ITS LONG-TERM ROLE. In response to the Pentagon's announcement that it will build better Guantanamo Bay prison facilities, Monday's The Miami Herald criticized the government's failure to openly discuss its future plans for the detention center. The Herald conceded that Americans generally support the existence of the island prison, but questioned why there is no transparent government discussion as to "where the [Guantanamo] project is going, why we need it and what the end game is." — Posted at 2:03 pm

Dec. 16, 2004

DOJ MULLS ANOTHER LEAK PROBE. The Department of Justice is looking into opening yet another leak investigation, this time into information about a spy satellite program under debate in Congress and reported in The Washington Post and The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun reports. After Democratic Senators involved in the secret debates, including John D. Rockefeller (W.V.) and Diane Feinstein (Calif.), publicly but vaguely commented on an expensive classified program of questionable necessity, The Post and the Times reported details of the satellite program, including a budget that ballooned from $5 billion to $9.5 billion. The National Reconnaissance Office, which is overseeing the program, asked the DOJ to consider opening a criminal investigation into possible leaks to the newspapers. The DOJ and FBI will determine if classified information was leaked and if there is enough evidence to proceed with a criminal investigation before moving forward. Senate Republicans may also push for a probe in the Senate Ethics Committee, the Times reports. According to the Post , Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich), ranking Democrat on the Select Committee on Intelligence, said he does not believe that any improper disclosures occurred. — Posted at 11:11 am

GOVERNMENT FILES GIVE EXPANDED VIEW OF DETAINEE ABUSE. The Navy this week released approximately 10,000 government files pertaining to U.S. detainee treatment overseas, The New York Times reported. The documents, released in response to an FOI Act request made by the ACLU in 2003, detail stories of detainee electrocution, mock execution, and strangulation. In another instance, a detainee was sprayed with flammable liquid and set afire. Nine soldiers have been court-martialed for their actions. The government redacted all names from the documents produced. The ACLU has created an online reading room for the records at its Web site. — Posted at 10:35 am

Dec. 15, 2004

NATIONAL GUARD RELEASES NEW NUMBERS TO REPLACE FAULTY ONES. A week after releasing faulty figures for the number of Army National Guard troops who have served in Iraq, the National Guard releases an updated figure, showing a lower Iraq death rate,USA Today reports. — Posted at 5:00 pm

MILITARY OFFICIAL DISCUSSES \"CULTURE OF IMPUNITY\" CHARGE. U.S. Maj. Mark McCann talked to reporters today in Kabul about Human Rights Watch's allegations that the government's Afghan operations foster a "culture of impunity" with respect to detainee abuse, The Associated Press reported this morning. When one journalist referred to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission's claims that there were as many as 120 reported cases of detainee abuse, McCann responded that it was the group's responsibility to bring those reports to U.S. attention: "We can't look into something we have no knowledge of... It's like we would be confirming something that we don't know is out there." — Posted at 4:59 pm

GOVERNMENT WILL NOT EXPLAIN WHY SCHOLAR\'S VISA DENIED. Tariq Ramadan has resigned his faculty appointment at Notre Dame University after State Department officials rejected his visa application, today's TheWashington Post reports. Ramadan is well-respected for his scholarship in which he argues for Muslim participation in both the Western and Islamic worlds. He has written 20 books, including "Western Muslims and the Future of Islam." Neither Ramadan nor Notre Dame was given any specific reason as to why the visa application was denied. — Posted at 4:57 pm

CORNYN BILL TO TACKLE FOI ACT PROBLEMS. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., says that he will introduce legislation next year to improve the Freedom of Information Act's effectiveness, the Great Falls Tribune reported today. Among Cornyn's desired changes are stricter government deadlines for FOI Act compliance; currently, the Department of Agriculture's average response time is 905 business days, and the Environmental Protection Agency typically takes 1,113 business days. Cornyn also opposes a provision that allows the Homeland Security Department to withhold information. — Posted at 4:54 pm

NO CRIME, BUT REPORTERS FACE TIME. Reporters Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper face jail for refusing to reveal their confidential sources to a grand jury investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to journalists, but disclosing Plame's identity was not a crime, David B. Rivkin, Jr. and Bruce W. Sanford, attorneys specializing in national security and First Amendment law respectively, write in a Wall Street Journal op/ed. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is believed to be investigating the Plame leak as a violation of the Intelligence Identites Protection Act. The act was passed by Congress in 1982 in response to ex-CIA agent Philip Agee's outing of undercover CIA agents in order to disrupt CIA activities. According to Rivkin and Sanford, "The law requires a prosecutor to show that a person has disclosed information that identifies a "covert agent" (not an "operative") while actually knowing that the agent has been undercover within the last five years in a foreign country and that the disclosed information would expose the agent. For a person who had no classified access to the outed agent's identity, the law provides the additional hurdle of proving a pattern of exposing agents with the belief that such actions would harm the government's spying capabilities. As a practical matter, this high degree of proof of willfulness or intentionality would be almost impossible to find in any circumstances other than in a Philip Agee clone (and maybe not even him)." — Posted at 4:32 pm

Dec. 14, 2004

AFGHAN DETAINEE DEATHS SURFACE. On Monday, Human Rights Watch sent an open letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld criticizing American abuse investigations. The organization claimed to have discovered three more detainee deaths in Afghanistan than previously revealed by the U.S., bringing the total to six. Human Rights Watch lamented the government's suppression of its investigative findings on abuses at Afghan detention centers. One day after the open letter was issued, the U.S. Army released information surrounding two more previously unknown cases of detainee deaths in Afghanistan in 2003, bringing the known total to six. — Posted at 6:22 pm

DETAINEE AFFIDAVIT ALLEGES GITMO ABUSE. In an affidavit released by his lawyer, an Australian prisoner said he was abused at Guantanamo Bay, The Associated Press reported on Friday. The prisoner claimed to have been drugged, beaten, and starved by interrogators. Pentagon lawyer Maj. Michael Shavers said that the abuse allegations were being investigated. — Posted at 6:06 pm

CHAT ROOM MONITORS ENVISIONED. In a response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) received from the federally funded National Science Foundation (NSF), details concerning a memorandum of understanding between the CIA and the foundation on research of ways to monitor on-line chat rooms to seek out terrorist activities. — Posted at 5:21 pm

DECLASSIFICATION BOARD WILL HEAR CHALLENGES TO SECRECY. Legislation creating a "Public Interest Declassification Board" awaits President George W. Bush's signature to become law, The Washington Post reported last week. Members of Congress will have the right to appeal to the board if they believe a federal agency is classifying too much information. The board will be comprised of nine members, five of whom will be White House appointees. The remaining four will be named by Democratic and Republican congressional leaders. — Posted at 5:19 pm

WIPEOUT WARNING IN WAIVER WAVE. Media experts are seeing a worrisome increase in the use of confidentiality waivers to try to get reporters to reveal sources, the Providence (R.I.) Journal reports. Recently waivers have been used in the investigation into who leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, the prosecution of investigative reporter Jim Taricani for refusing to reveal who gave him a tape of a Providence, R.I., official taking a bribe, and scientist Dr. Steven Hatfill's lawsuit against the Department of Justice for labeling him a "person of interest" in the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks. "Confidentiality waivers are not a new tool, but they are becoming increasingly prevalent," said Charles Davis, executive director of the Freedom of Information Center at the Missouri School of Journalism. David Rubin, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, said "It's possible that when someone signs these waivers, they are not signing them with a free will." — Posted at 3:23 pm

ARMY NATIONAL GUARD GIVES NEWSPAPER INACCURATE NUMBERS. The total number of Army National Guard troops in Iraq since March 2003 is unknown, after the Guard concedes it gave USA Today the wrong numbers. The Guard failed to provide an exact count Monday, the paper reported. The newspaper said that without more precise figures, there is no way to accurately compare death rates between various branches of U.S. military forces during the Iraq war. — Posted at 3:22 pm

REPORTING FROM GUANTANAMO. Reporters are the only civilians who can observe "combatant status review tribunals" at the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but journalists have paid little attention to the hearings and conditions exist on reporting about them, says London's Financial Times: An official in Guantanamo e-mailed me a list of conditions I had to agree to abide by before I would be allowed to report on the hearings. I could not identify the officers presiding over the hearings, nor other military personnel. Nor could I reveal anything about the detainees that could identify them, including their names, even if they were among the many prisoners who are openly discussed and pictured on the internet as relatives and lawyers seek support for their cases. I was later told that I should also ignore any detainee who tried to communicate with me during his hearing. — Posted at 3:20 pm

ROLE OF DECEPTION DEBATED BY PENTAGON. A bitter disagreement continues at the Pentagon over Defense Department officials managing or manipulating information in the war on terror, The New York Times reports. Some contend the Pentagon is headed toward a Vietanam-era credibility gap. Pentagon and military officials directly involved in the debate say that such a secret propaganda program, for example, could include planting news stories in the foreign press or creating false documents and Web sites translated into Arabic as an effort to discredit and undermine the influence of mosques and religious schools that preach anti-American principles. — Posted at 3:17 pm

Dec. 10, 2004

REPORTER PROMPTED SOLDIER WITH RUMSFELD QUESTION. A question to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about lack of armor for some U.S. military vehicles in Iraq was planted by a reporter embedded in a National Guard unit, The Washington Post reported. The journalist from Chattanooga, Tenn., did not discuss his role in the story he wrote. — Posted at 2:42 pm

SENATORS ATTEMPT TO BLOCK SECRET INTELLIGENCE PROJECT. An intense secret debate about a previously unknown, enormously expensive technical intelligence program has burst into light in the form of scathing criticism from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. For two years, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.V>)and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have disclosed, Republicans and Democrats on the panel have voted to block the secret program, which is believed to be a system of new spy satellites. But The New York Times reports that it continues to be financed at a cost that former Congressional officials put at hundreds of millions of dollars a year with support from the House, the Bush administration and Congressional appropriations committees. Neither senator would say much more about what he was referring to. — Posted at 12:24 pm

Dec. 9, 2004

4 DISCIPLINED FOR USING STUN GUNS ON DETAINEES. Four unidentified members of a U.S. Special Forces unit were disciplined this past summer for abusing detainees with guns that fire an electric charge, known as Tasers or stun guns, The Washington Post reports. The administrative sanctions - a previously undisclosed aspect of the alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees during the U.S. occupation - did not include criminal penalties, according to a Pentagon spokesman. — Posted at 4:57 pm

MINI GOLF AFICIONADOS BEWARE. The Department of Homeland Security is behind schedule on its creation of a comprehensive compilation of terror targets in the U.S., USA Today reported Wednesday. The list is classified, "so terrorists cannot learn more about the nation's vulnerabilities." However, some members of Congress have seen the list and have questioned its usefulness; the list reportedly includes miniature golf courses, but omits sites of more obvious importance. — Posted at 1:27 pm

CIA FACES WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION SUIT. An article in today's edition of The Washington Post reveals that an undercover CIA operative has sued that agency for illegal whistleblower retaliation. After he refused to falsify documents relating to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the lawsuit alleges, the CIA began to investigate him "for the sole purpose of discrediting him and retaliating against him for questioning the integrity of the WMD reporting." — Posted at 1:26 pm

CONGRESS CONTINUES TO FUND INTEL PROGRAM SHROUDED IN SECRECY. A handful of U.S. Senators have criticized Congress' continued funding of a top secret intelligence program for being dangerous to national security, but stopped short of actually commenting on what it was, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Outside intelligence experts have speculated that the mystery project is a satellite system with the capacity to defend against attacks on the U.S. — Posted at 12:59 pm

RAND DEEMS U.S. MILITARY EMBED PROGRAM A SUCCESS. The press, the military and the American public were all winners in the U.S. military's program embedding journalists in Iraq, a RAND Corp. study says. — Posted at 12:27 pm

DETAINEE STATEMENTS UNDER WRAPS. On Wednesday, the Associated Press wrote that it made a Freedom of Information Act request more than a month ago to access statements made by U.S. detainees before military review tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. The tribunals are a forum in which prisoners can challenge their detentions in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June. The government has not responded to the request. — Posted at 12:26 pm

Dec. 8, 2004

INTELLIGENCE BILL STILL SECRETIVE. The House of Representatives today approved the intelligence bill sought by the 911 Commission with some changes. News media concerns were not entirely addressed. The Coalition of Journalists for Open Government had objected that an earlier version of the legislation gave powerful authority to the newly created office of Director of National Intelligence to demand secrecy from all federal agencies reporting to him as well as from state and local law enforcement agencies and others who might share information with him regarding terrorism. Information Trust director Scott Armstrong said changes in the language in the final bill do not cure the concerns, but he said there is strong language in the conference report calling for Congressional oversight over the director's authority to protect "sources and methods" information. The new version also requires that the total figure for intelligence operations be kept secret. The 911 Commission had recommended that the figure, which has been subject of Freedom of Information Act requests, be public. — Posted at 5:46 pm

TONY BLAIR: NO TO COUNTING IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS. British Prime Minister Tony Blair rejected demands for an independent inquiry into the number of civilians killed in Iraq, according to CNN and British news reports. Blair's refusal came after 46 people, including former British ambassadors and prominent academics, wrote Blair a letter saying Britain and the United States have a duty to count and report civilian deaths in Iraq. — Posted at 10:57 am

ACLU\'S FOI DOCUMENTS DETAIL ABUSE COVER-UP. News media continue to publish stories based on U.S. government documents detailing abuse of detainees held overseas. Records were released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act after filing a lawsuit for them. Many of the documents depict a split between the Defense Department and the FBI over Pentagon use of harsh interrogation methods on prisoners. Records show that Defense Intelligence Agency personnel also viewed the evidence abuse and were told to keep quiet. The records quote DIA officials' descriptions of the confiscation of their photographs, orders to them to leave the compound and other harassment intended to keep the abuses secret. — Posted at 10:25 am

ARMY DESERTER GOES PUBLIC IN CANADA. A U.S. Army deserter went public with his asylum bid and requested that a Canadian board hearing on the matter be open, The Globe and Mail of Toronto reported. A former U.S. Marine witness testified in the immigration and refugee board hearing that the U.S. military killed unarmed Iraqis. — Posted at 10:24 am

Dec. 7, 2004

LOBBYISTS FOR THE ENERGY INDUSTRY ENJOY PRIVATE MEETINGS WITH FERC. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has conducted 83 private meetings over the past year with executives and lobbyists representing oil and gas companies, The Center for Public Integrity reported in an article on its Web site today. Coincidentally, the industry's access to FERC commissioners is occurring at the same time the agency has begun to play a larger role in the establishment of liquified natural gas facilities across the country. Individual citizens are frustrated by their inability to lobby against the construction of these dangerous terminals in their neighborhoods while industry leaders, on the other hand, clearly have the FERC's ear. — Posted at 5:45 pm

CLASSIFIED CABLE SAYS SITUATION IN IRAQ DETERIORATING. A classified cable sent by the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in Baghdad has warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and may not rebound any time soon, according to government officials. The cable, sent late last month as the officer ended a yearlong tour, presented a bleak assessment on matters of politics, economics and security, the officials said. They said its basic conclusions had been echoed in briefings presented by a senior C.I.A. official who recently visited Iraq. The New York Times reports that the station chief's cable has been widely disseminated outside the C.I.A., and was initially described by a government official who read the document and who praised it as unusually candid. Other government officials who have read or been briefed on the document later described its contents. The officials refused to be identified by name or affiliation because of the delicacy of the issue. The station chief cannot be publicly identified because he continues to work undercover. — Posted at 5:03 pm

FORTIFIED AGAINST JOURNALISTS, TOO. Reporters were barred from the heavily fortified U.S. Consulate's office in Saudi Arabia, where five workers were killed by Islamic militands who stormed the compound Monday, The Associated Press reported. — Posted at 1:31 pm

THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR SEARCHIN\'. Travelers do not have to take off their shoes at airport security checkpoints, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman tells a Washington Post business columnist. Keith L. Alexander reports that this policy is also proclaimed on the TSA website, www.tsa.gov. Supposedly all airports follow the same guidelines, but frequent fliers contend otherwise. According to the government, if you're asked to remove your shoes, it may be the result of "shoe-profiling"; suspect footwear includes boots, platform shoes, or others with thick heels or soles. — Posted at 1:29 pm

JUSTICE FOR JOURNALISTS? Nearly a year after three Iraqi Reuters' news staffers and an NBC cameraman claimed they were physically and mentally abused at a U.S. Army base near Fallujah, the wire service's top man in Iraq still seeks justice. Andrew Marshall is lobbying American journalists to cover the case and the Pentagon to reopen its investigation of the incident. — Posted at 11:10 am

FBI OBSERVED GITMO ABUSE IN 2002. FBI agents visiting Guantanamo Bay viewed questionable interrogation techniques as early as October 2002, well before the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. After nearly two years, the FBI sent a letter to the Army in July, expressing frustration that its allegations had never been directed to the Department of Defense for investigation. — Posted at 10:37 am

ANONYMOUS BLOGGER V. U.S. MILITARY. An anonymous blogger's view of the Iraq war depicts mistreatment of Iraqi civilians, sharply contrasting military's view of liberating civilians, The Washington Post reports: Judging by the reaction of several soldiers and military experts, a comparison of the two presentations shows, among other things, how the might of the U.S. military can be matched by a single blogger working part time. — Posted at 10:35 am

Dec. 6, 2004

WEAPONS PANEL MEETING IN SECRET. The commission that President Bush appointed last February to assess the state of American intelligence on weapons proliferation has been deliberating entirely in secret and may not depart from that practice before it issues a final report next March, officials of the panel say. The New York Times reports that in the past 10 months, public statements from the commission and its staff have been limited to terse written summaries posted on its Web site after each of its seven closed-door meetings. The secrecy is very different from the practice adopted by the Sept. 11 commission, which had held 12 public hearings and issued 17 staff statements by the time it released its final report in July. — Posted at 6:07 pm

NAVAL INSPECTOR GENERAL\'S REPORT CONSIDERS U.S. INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES. Inspector General Vice Admiral Albert T. Church of the U.S. Navy has prepared an investigative report into U.S. interrogation policies, according to the Saturday edition of The New York Times. Its draft summary, which has been circulating through the department for comment, does not find any evidence that senior Pentagon or White House officials pressured interrogators to use abusive tactics. The report also discusses the differences between structured interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the haphazard process that occurred in Iraq. Interrogation techniques in these two locales appear to have developed independently of one another, the report says, without much cross-pollination of ideas. — Posted at 4:25 pm

DAM SAFETY INFORMATION KEPT FROM NEIGHBORING COUNTY. Fearing misappropriation by terrorists, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation refuses to release detailed information about Jackson Lake Dam in Wyoming to Teton County Commissioner Bill Paddleford, the Billings Gazette reported on Sunday. Paddleford requested the information in order to prepare a county emergency response plan should the dam break. "Dams can and do fail, and will," said John Weisheit of the Utah-based conservation group Living Rivers. "What's more important is - we paid for it. These are all publicly funded programs. Why can't we know more about the dangers that affect us?" — Posted at 4:23 pm

US SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO TAKE UP MILITARY TRIALS. The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to fast-track consideration of an unusual appeal challenging the Bush administration's plans for military-commission trials for foreign terror suspects, The Associated Press reports. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was a driver for Osama bin Laden, has already won a ruling in federal court, but his attorneys hoped to skip review by the federal circut court in Washington, D.C., where the case is now pending, and get the Supreme Court to decide the legality of trials slated for Hamdan and others. But the nation's high court apparently agreed with the government that there was no need to hurry with Hamdan's appeal. — Posted at 3:31 pm

ARMY DISTORTS TILLMAN ACCOUNT. The U.S. Army created a myth around the death of Spec. Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals defensive back who gave up his pro-football contract to volunteer after Sept. 11, 2001 and was killed while fighting in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army Rangers. In a two-part series,Washington Post writer Steve Coll, shows that, while Tillman fought bravely before his death, the Army exaggerated its accounts of his authority in the field, distorted the details of the battle and tried to bury accounts showing irrefutably that Tillman was killed by friendly fire amid botched communications, command and control errors, and negligent shooting. Although the Post was able to obtain many of the documents concerning Tillman's death, the Army is protecting the names of rangers including those who gave the commands that resulted in Tillman's death claiming that the Privacy Act prevents the release of the information. — Posted at 2:44 pm

AP REPORTER UNCOVERS POSSIBLE IRAQ PRISONER ABUSE. An Associated Press reporter researching the prosecution of a group of SEALS who allegedly beat Iraqi prisoners discovered photos showing apparant prisoner abuse on a photo-sharing Web site. The military is investigating. — Posted at 2:40 pm

MILITARY PUNISHMENT NOT REVEALED. The U.S. military in Iraq has issued "non-judicial" punishment to 18 soldiers and five more will face similar discipline for refusing a command order to deliver fuel in Iraq, a military spokesman said today, but he refused to say what the punishment was, according to Reuters. The military justice code gives commanders discretion to order brief detentions, loss of some pay, extra duties and loss of rank, the news service reported. The soldiers refused orders saying that trucks were not sufficiently armored for a treacherous mission. Their commander has relieved. — Posted at 2:38 pm

Dec. 3, 2004

WAVE OF WAIVERS. Newsweek and MSNBC.com report that a federal judge has ordered as many as 100 FBI agents and federal prosecutors to sign waivers of any confidentiality agreements they have with journalists. The order came in Dr. Steven J. Hatfill's lawsuit against the Department of Justice for leaking information about him from the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks. Hatfill was labeled a "person of interest" in the case, but has never been charged. The waivers have been nicknamed "Plame waivers" because of their use in the grand jury investigation into who leaked the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. "It's very disturbing that this is starting to become used as a way to out the relationship between reporters and sources," said media attorney Floyd Abrams. "On the face of it, [the waivers] are coercive. How could they be anything but?" — Posted at 4:50 pm

GONZALES OUT OF OUTING INVESTIGATION. White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez will separate himself from the Valerie Plame investigation if confirmed as Attorney General, The Associated Press reports. As White House Counsel, Gonzalez has been the point-man for the administration's responses to inquiries about the leak of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak and other journalists. Gonzales made the statement in response to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), during a closed meeting. Schumer said he is inclined to confirm Gonzales and expects that the nomination will receive broad support in the Senate. — Posted at 4:42 pm

ISLAMIC CHARITIES REPORT SUBSTANTIALLY TRUE. A federal appeals court dismissed an Islamic charity's libel lawsuit against several news organizations for reporting that the charity was under investigation for funding terrorism, The New York Sun reports. The Chicago-based Global Relief Foundation filed the suit against ABC, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The New York Post and others. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago (7th Cir.) dismissed the case because the news reports that the charity was under investigation were substantially true. The court ruled that the media defendants did not need to further prove that the allegations being investigated by the FBI were also true. The FBI investigation of Global Relief has lead to the subpoena of New York Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon's telephone records after a reporter tipped the charity to a planned raid by calling for comment. Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who has also subpoenaed Miller in the Valerie Plame investigation, wants to know who leaked the planned raid to the Times . — Posted at 4:08 pm

CROSSFIRE HOST NOT IN CROSSHAIRS. The (Madison, Wisc.) Capital Times reports that columnist Robert Novak has disclosed that he is not a target of the grand jury investigation into who leaked the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to him and other journalists. "To the regret of many people," Novak said, "I am not a criminal target." He made the comment during an open question-and-answer period after a lecture at the Wisconsin Union Theater. He refused to answer further questions, saying his attorney would "murder" him. — Posted at 4:06 pm

CONGRESSMAN PROPOSES BAN ON CAMERAS IN COMBAT. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) proposes a ban on camera crews covering direct combat, Army Times reports. Jones was responsible for delaying by 24 hours the media's reporting of combat deaths. — Posted at 4:05 pm

PENTAGON INVESTIGATING MISINFORMATION LEAK TO CNN. Pentagon officials say they are investigating an incident in which a Marine spokesman gave CNN misleading information about a major military offensive in Iraq, the network reported. — Posted at 4:04 pm

INDIVIDUAL MARINE DEATH REPORTS TO RESUME. The Marine Corps announced plans to resume public reports of individual Marine deaths more than a month after it stopped such reports, according to The Associated Press. — Posted at 4:03 pm

Dec. 2, 2004

GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY TO REMOVE FLIGHT INFO. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) intends to remove flight information publications, a digital aeronautical flight file and related digital and hardcopy publications from public sale and distribution, the agency announced in a Federal Register notice last week. The agency said it hopes to prevent access to air facility data by those intending harm to the United States; to uphold terms of bi-lateral geospatial data-sharing agreements; to avoid competition with commercial interests; and to avoid intellectual roperty/copyright disputes with foreign agencies that provide host-nation aeronautical data. Secrecy News reported a day earlier that NGA had told a private Web site to a year-old commercial satellite picture of Fallujah. — Posted at 5:38 pm

SECRET PENTAGON MEMO WARNS OF DETAINEE ABUSE. The Washington Post reports Army generals in Iraq were told in December 2003 that military and CIA task force members were abusing detainees, according to a confidential report the paper recently obtained. The warning came at least a month before Army investigators received the scandalous Abu Ghraib prison photos. The report concluded the US may have been conducting "technically" illegal arrests and that it was "making gratuitous enemies" with its sweeps netting hundreds of detainees. — Posted at 10:18 am

Dec. 1, 2004

ANTHRAX-RELATED LIBEL LAWSUIT DISMISSED. A federal judge in Virginia has dismissed a libel lawsuit brought against The New York Times by Steven Hatfill, who claimed the newspaper falsely insinuated he was responsible for the deadly anthrax attacks in 2001. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton also dismissed Hatfill's lawsuit against Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote several columns in 2002 on the FBI's handling of the anthrax investigation. — Posted at 4:59 pm

YEE STILL NOT ALLOWED TO DISCUSS CASE. CBS on Sunday offered a one-year anniversary retrospective on the jailings of U.S. Army chaplain James Yee and Air Force translator Ahmad Al Halabi, then sitting in jail facing the death penalty purportedly for operating a spy ring. The two friends have now been discharged with all charges of spying dropped. Yee is still not allowed by the Army to discuss the case. — Posted at 4:42 pm

PENTAGON DEBATE ERUPTS OVER USING MEDIA IN TERRORISM WAR. Pentagon and other national security officials say there is a broad effort under way within the Bush administration to use information to its advantage in the war on terrorism, the Los Angeles Times reports. — Posted at 2:48 pm

CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYERS SUE RUMSFELD IN GERMANY. A group of U.S. civil rights attornmeys filed a criminal complaint Tuesday in Germany, seeking an investigation of officials including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA director George Tenet over their alleged roles in torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The lawyers, who believe the American investigation of the abuse scandal has not gone far enough, picked Germany because its law allows for prosecution of war crimes and human rights violations across national boundaries. — Posted at 12:01 pm

QUESTIONS ABOUT GITMO DETAINEE TREATMENT PLAGUE COURTS, ADMINISTRATION. Two U.S. District Court judges are scheduled to hear arguments in Washington, D.C., this week on the government's motion to dismiss all challenges filed by inmates at Guantanamo Bay, Legal Times reports. Judge Joyce Hens Green will hear arguments on Wednesday, while Judge Richard Leon will hear arguments Thursday. The "double booking" may "complicate the process of deciding the rights military detainees in the war on terror," says correspondent Vanessa Blum. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that the president of the International Red Cross hopes to visit Washington to press senior administration officials about treatment of Gitmo detainees. The Times on Tuesday published part of Red Cross report charging that techniques used by the US military at the prison was "tantamount to torture." — Posted at 11:59 am

TRUE VIEW OF IRAQ OBSCURED WITH SO FEW REPORTERS COVERING THE WAR. Newsweek reports that there are fewer Western journalists in Iraq than than at any time in the war so far, and those who are there are either embedded or largely confined to bunkers around Baghdad. "Getting a broad view of the war has become harder than ever before; even investigating major incidents can be nearly impossible." — Posted at 10:44 am