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.

Jul. 28, 2005

HEARING TRANSCRIPT SHOWS CIA ABUSED IRAQI PRISONERS. The Denver Post reports that the transcript of a closed-door hearing indicates CIA interrogators allegedly beat Iraqi prisoners with a sledghammer handle. A Utah National Guardsmen testified to the alleged abuse during a secret "Article 32" hearing in March for three Army soldiers who face murder charges in the death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush during a 2003 interrogation. The Post, which challenged the hearing's closure to the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals earlier this year, obtained a copy of the transcript under court order. — Posted at 3:10 pm

JUDGE BLASTS SECRET TRIBUNALS. A federal judge in Washington State sentenced the so-called Millenium Bomber to 22 years in prison yesterday, saying the proceedings demonstrated that terrorism can be prosecuted under the U.S. court system "in the sunlight of a public trial," The Seattle Times reports. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour noted "[t]here were no secret proceedings, no indefinite detention, no denial of counsel" in the case of Ahmed Ressam, who was convicted of trying to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium. — Posted at 11:42 am

Jul. 27, 2005

NOT ENOUGH MEDIA FOCUS ON GOVERNMENT SECRECY. Journalists aren't doing enough to dig up government information on how homeland security secrecy impacts people's everyday lives, according to "Short Attention Span," an article written by Sherry Ricchiardi for American Journalism Review's August/September 2005 issue. he Army, for instance, refuses to release information about a Maryland military weapons training facility's chemical seepage, the article said, depriving neighboring residents of information "about where trouble might be found." — Posted at 11:43 am

BUSH ADMINISTRATION FOI ACT POLICY GUIDANCE WILL GET SECOND LOOK, GONZALES SAYS. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said this week that he would reconsider the adequacy of predecessor John Ashcroft's infamous FOI Act policy guidance, The Associated Press reported yesterday. The "Ashcroft standard" assures government agencies that the Justice Department will defend their FOI Act withholding decisions so long as the agencies can present a technical statutory justification. — Posted at 11:41 am

GRAHAM BRINGS DECLASSIFIED MILITARY DETAINEE TREATMENT MEMOS TO SENATE FLOOR. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) brought several recently declassified military records pertaining to detainee treatment to the Senate floor yesterday to support a new bill he has jointly sponsored prohibiting the "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of U.S. prisoners, the Federation of American Scientists reported yesterday. FAS also posted the records. In one declassified memo, a U.S. Army major general expresses concern over some "pivotal aspects" of the Justice Department's official stance on detainee treatment: "While the [DOJ] speaks to a number of defenses that could be raised on behalf of those who engage in interrogation techniques later perceived to be illegal. I question whether [the defenses] would ultimately prevail in either the U.S. courts or in any international forum." — Posted at 11:40 am

REP. HOEKSTRA CHAMPIONS PUNISHMENT FOR GOVERNMENT LEAKS. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich) made made a speech Monday indicating that the committee would hold hearings later this year to consider new legislation encouraging criminal prosecution of classified information leaks, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the Federation of American Scientists' Web site. "Some of you may have seen an article from a few weeks ago that discussed possible coordination between the U.S., France, and other governments in the war on terror," Hoekstra said. "While I understand the public has a certain interest in knowing what the government is doing to protect them, we have to ask, where is the balance. What was the benefit of publishing that story?" In response to Hoekstra's proposal, the FAS Web site posted a 2002 study sponsored by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in which he reported that current statutes already "provide a legal basis to prosecute those who engage in unauthorized disclosures." — Posted at 11:38 am

PENDING MILITARY CHARGES DETAILED IN TAGUBA REPORT. As military proceedings are about to begin next week for charges brought against two Army dog handlers, the Associated Press reported yesterday that some of the alleged crimes were detailed in Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba's investigative report on Abu Ghraib prison abuses. Military intelligence "would ask me to use my dog as a psychological and physical deterrent," one soldier said. The pending charges include dereliction of duty and maltreatment of detainees. — Posted at 11:36 am

Jul. 25, 2005

REPORTING REQUIREMENT BUILT INTO PATRIOT ACT BILL. House lawmakers have added a reporting requirement to the USA Patriot Act renewal bill whereby the Justice Department will have to annually advise Congress about its use of data-mining techniques for tracking terrorism suspects, The New York Times reported Sunday. A set of talking points opposing the reporting requirements has been distributed to Republican leaders, however, complaining that such reporting could tip off terrorists about which intelligence gathering techniques the Justice Department employs most often. — Posted at 4:58 pm

PATRIOT ACT\'S SECTION 215 USED 268 TIMES SINCE 2001. Despite the requirement that librarians protect the secrecy surrounding any government search of patron records pursuant to the Patriot Act's Section 215, a recent librarian survey reveals that the provision has been used 268 times since 2001, Reuters reported yesterday. It is a felony for a librarian to release details of Section 215 searches of patron records. — Posted at 4:55 pm

ABU GHRAIB IMAGES NOT FORTHCOMING, DESPITE NEW COURT ORDER. The Defense Department filed a sealed brief in federal district court in Manhattan on Friday, the same day as its court-ordered deadline to release additional Abu Ghraib prison abuse images to the ACLU pursuant to its Freedom of Information Act request, The New York Times reported Saturday. In an introductory letter, a government lawyer indicated that the sealed brief would explain why the images' release "could result in harm to individuals." U.S. District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has already rejected the government's argument that the records' release would violate prisoners' rights under the Geneva Convention. — Posted at 4:54 pm

THE TRUTH COMES OUT, EVENTUALLY. In a marked departure from what had previously been the government's official statement, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher told reporters on Wednesday that the former director of the state homeland security office left in June after having been asked to resign, WKYT News' Web site reported yesterday. At the time, the press was told that resigning Homeland Security director Keith Hall wanted to "pursue other opportunities." A government spokesperson declined to give further details as to why Hall was asked to leave. — Posted at 11:02 am

WHISTLEBLOWER AMONG WEST VIRGINIA SECURITY OFFICIALS LEAVING OFFICE. Among the four high-ranking state emergency preparedness officials who have left West Virginia government in recent months is Steve Kappa, former director of the Office of Emergency Services, who was fired for "blowing the whistle on alleged wasteful spending in the department," The Charleston Gazette reported Thursday. — Posted at 11:01 am

Jul. 22, 2005

COLORADO RECORDS DETAIL HOMELAND SECURITY SPENDING (SORT OF). Colorado has spent $130 million in federal homeland security grants since 2002, according to government information obtained through a records request, although heavy redactions made it difficult to determine how much of that money was directed to critical infrastructure protections, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday. — Posted at 4:12 pm

MILITARY REPORTS SHED LIGHT ON IRAQ PROGRESS. A 23-page Pentagon report released this week offers the "most comprehensive public look yet" at the "progress and problems" of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, The Washington Post reported Thursday. What the report failed to mention, some Democrats complained, was the estimated time that America's 138,000 would withdraw and come home. A separate Pentagon assessment that has not been publicly released suggests that the Iraqi security forces will not be able to manage without America's help anytime soon, The New York Times reported, observing that only a "small number" are capable of independent operations. — Posted at 4:10 pm

Jul. 20, 2005

RECORDS SHOW DISPARITY IN DISTRIBUTION OF ANTI-TERROR MONEY. Government records show that federal homeland security grants have allegedly been distributed primarily to Democratic districts in New Jersey, raising Republican ire, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. Democratic districts received $21.3 million in 2002 versus $1.6 million for Republican areas, according to governor's office statistics. "We can't... dole out partisan funding on so sensitive an issue," said state assemblyman Joe Pennacchio (R-Montville) who wrote a letter to federal Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff asking him to intervene. — Posted at 5:38 pm

WEST VIRGINIA HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICE INVESTIGATED. The federal Homeland Security Department and the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations have begun to make inquiries into how the state spent $40 million in federal homeland security grants in the wake of three officials' recent resignations, the Charleston Gazette reported Tuesday. — Posted at 5:37 pm

ACLU, PETA AND GREENPEACE SUE THE FBI FOR DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE RECORDS. A July 18 weblog entry on the Project on Open Government's Web site discussed the ACLU, PETA and Greenpeace's recent Freedom of Information lawsuit against the FBI for documents concerning its "counter-terrorism" surveillance of domestic advocacy organizations. The blog contains links to the filed complaint and to the "Church Committee Report," a 1970's-era government report advocating that the FBI have "reasonable suspicion" of criminal activity before watching people for their political affiliations. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft eliminated that "reasonable suspicion" requirement in 2002. — Posted at 4:34 pm

FREEDOM OF ACCESS IMPORTANT, RUMSFELD SAYS. In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote about military information policy in the midst of a communications environment whose fast pace can sometimes compromise the truth. The Defense Department posts transcripts of military officials' interviews and speeches on its Web site "to enable the public to inform themselves directly about the military's activities," Rumsfeld wrote. Stressing his dedication to the Freedom of Information Act by mentioning he was one of the law's sponsors as a member of Congress nearly 40 years ago, Rumsfeld also observed that the Defense Department often declassifies and publishes records - such as those that correspond to detainee treatment - that have become the subject of intense public interest. — Posted at 4:32 pm

MILITARY RECORDS SHOW RESULTS OF LINDH TREATMENT INVESTIGATION. Military documents released pursuant to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request for detainee treatment records reveal that soldiers marking prisoner John Walker Lindh with obscenities were only guilty of "barracks humor," FindLaw's Web site reported Tuesday. A military investigation concluded that the degrading treatment was not very "mature," but that no crime was committed. — Posted at 4:31 pm

Jul. 19, 2005

THE WORD \'SECURITY\' DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY REQUIRE SECRECY, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS. In an interview with the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, published Sunday, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said that his office does not think that a national security exemption automatically kicks in for any government record whose label simply contains the word "security." Information from government security cameras, for instance, is public, he said. — Posted at 5:04 pm

GRAHAM ASKS FOR UNCLASSIFIED MILITARY MEMOS. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has urged the public release of unclassified versions of military lawyer memos contradicting the legal position of the Justice Department's March 2003 memo on the permissible scope of detainee interrogations, blogger Marty Lederman wrote for Balkin.com yesterday. The Pentagon wishes to continue hiding the military lawyer memos because they were part of the its deliberative process in formulating its detainee interrogation policy. — Posted at 5:03 pm

NATIONAL SECURITY EXCEPTION ADDED TO FED SHIELD BILL. Sponsors of the federal reporter's shield bill have added a national security exception to the otherwise absolute protection from disclosure of confidential sources provided by the bill, Yahoo! News reports. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) introduced the revised bill at the request of the Department of Justice and House Republicans. Senate hearings on the bill are scheduled for tomorrow. Under the revised bill, a journalist can be compelled to disclose a confidential source when all non-media sources have been exhausted, the testimony sought is essential to the case and the source's identity "is necessary to prevent imminent and actual harm to the national security." — Posted at 2:40 pm

\'MAJOR LOGISTICAL OPERATION\' IN IRAQ: COVERING NEWS CONFERENCES IN THE GREEN ZONE. Reuters' Iraq bureau chief Andrew Marshall, who just finished a two-year stint in Baghdad, writes about the catch-22 of journalists moving beyond embedded reporting to man-on-the-street interviewing, on the CJR Daily Web site. For foreign staff in Baghdad, operating independently of U.S.-led forces, mobility has shrunk to almost zero over the past two years. The risk of kidnapping is extremely high and it is no longer possible to travel freely around the city. Even going to a news conference in the Green Zone has become a major logistical operation involving armoured cars, two-way radios and heavy security precautions. — Posted at 2:16 pm

POSSIBLE CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR MILLER. New York Times reporter Judith Miller could face criminal contempt of court charges and a longer stay in jail, The Washington Post reports. She is currently imprisoned for refusing to reveal her confidential sources to the federal grand jury investigating who leaked undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak. If she continues to refuse to testify, her current civil contempt sentence will last until the grand jury expires in October, but a criminal contempt sentence could last much longer. CNN has dismissed calls to fire Novak, who revealed Plame's identity in a Chicago Sun-Times column, as premature, the Post reports. "No one really knows what's going on in the investigation of the Valerie Plame incident," CNN President Jonathan Klein said. "It would be awfully presumptuous of us to take steps against a guy and his career based on second, third, fourth-hand reporting." President Bush has qualified a pledge to fire whoever leaked Plame's identity following the revelation that his chief advisor Karl Rove leaked it to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, Yahoo! News reports. Rove's role was revealed when Cooper testified before the grand jury and revealed his testimony in a Time column. Bush now says that he will fire the leaker if hecommitted a crime. Rove's attorney has said Rove broke no law in speaking to Cooper. — Posted at 2:14 pm

CONGRESS MOVES TOWARDS USA PATRIOT ACT RENEWAL. The House and Senate moved closer to renewal of 16 provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act set to expire this year, The New York Times reports. A bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced by Sens. Arlen Spector (R-Penn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.), would make 14 of the provisions permanent, but place a five-year sunset on provisions that allow roving wiretaps and searchs of library and business records. The House Judiciary Committee approved an similar amendment but with a 10-year sunset on the two provisions, Yahoo! News reported. According to a Times editorial, The Senate Intelligence Committee's proposed additional power, a broad new administrative suboena that would allow the FBI to secretly access private records without first getting a judge's approval, is "a solution in search of a problem." — Posted at 2:12 pm

Jul. 18, 2005

BUSH CALLS FOR JAILED REPORTER\'S RELEASE. From the washingtonpost.com blog: "No, not that one, silly. Here's Bush's statement. Nedra Pickler writes for the Associated Press: 'President Bush called Tuesday for the release of an Iranian journalist jailed for writing articles linking government officials to murder.'" — Posted at 6:18 pm

SEAL SUIT DISMISSED. A federal judge dismissed an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by Navy SEALs against The Associated Press over photos published by AP that showed the SEALs allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners, AP reported. AP purchased the photos online after the wife of one of the SEALs posted them. She claims that she thought the photos were private. "The Associated Press merely distributed a truthful story, with photos that depict a topic of great public interest," U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller wrote. — Posted at 6:03 pm

APPEALS COURT: WAR-CRIMES TRIAL CAN RESUME. The trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver on terrorism charges is expected to resume at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, now that a federal appeals court has reversed a judge's decision that halted it last fall. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that the war-crimes commission, which is trying Salim Ahmed Hamdan, is not bound by traditional courts-martial rules, and may allow Hamdan to be excluded from the courtroom when classified information is to be revealed, The New York Times reported. — Posted at 4:49 pm

FOI ACT LAWSUIT SEEKS DOCUMENTS DETAILING DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE. The ACLU and Greenpeace have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI for access to documents pertaining to domestic surveillance of anti-war demonstrators by agency task forces, CNN's Web site reported Sunday. The FBI has identified nearly 4,000 pages of relevant records, but has told a federal district court in Washington that it needs until February to process them. — Posted at 4:48 pm

SCHMIDT REPORT DISCOUNTS FBI ABUSE ALLEGATION. One Guantanamo Bay prisoner abuse incident alleged in an FBI agent's email was not substantiated by the recently released Schmidt report, The Washington Times reported today. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va) rebuked Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill) for having recounted the abuse allegation on the Senate floor before knowing the result of the Army's investigation. Durbin's spokesperson dismissed the credibility of that particular Schmidt report finding, noting that investigators did not bother to interview the FBI agent who authored the email. — Posted at 4:46 pm

JOURNALIST\'S OPTIMISM FIZZLES AFTER RETURNING TO IRAQ. Newsweek correspondent Joe Cochrane, returning to Iraq after 18 months away, says journalists aren't adequately covering the war, but it's not their fault. Journalists are kept on a short leash as security worsens, he writes. The security situation has deteriorated so badly that journalists rarely venture out unless they're embedded with U.S. soldiers. That wasn't the case early last year, when foreigners could walk the streets outside the Green Zone, shop in local markets, and, most important to journalists, talk to the Iraqi people. Those days are long gone. Is it really that bad in Iraq? It's hard to say because the international media cannot adequately cover the war and Iraq's reconstruction because it's simply too dangerous. I would love to write about new schools being built and local village leaders learning about democracy, but I can't go out to see such things. Maybe that's why American friends who've never even been to Iraq - or read a book about the country for that matter - tell me I don't know what I'm talking about when I say things are so bad. — Posted at 4:44 pm

GENERAL\'S STATEMENT CONTRADICTS EARLIER CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY. Army Gen. Geoffrey Miller recently contradicted his May 2004 public testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee when he told prison guards' lawyers that he talked to top Defense Department aides about Abu Ghraib prison after making a fact-finding trip there, The Chicago Tribune reported Friday. The contradiction raises questions as to the veracity of top administration officials' claims that they were not aware before the Abu Ghraib scandal broke that prison abuse was occurring. — Posted at 4:42 pm

Jul. 16, 2005

COLUMN ON WAR COVERAGE SPARKS KNIGHT RIDDER DEBATE. Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder's Baghdad bureau chief, and Clark Hoyt, Knight Ridder's Washington editor, weigh in on a debate over journalists' coverage of the war in Iraq, sparked by a controversial column by Mark Yost in the St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press. Hoyt wrote Knight Ridder editors: It's astonishing that Mark Yost, from the distance and safety of St. Paul, Minnesota, presumes to know what's going on in Iraq. He knows the reporting of hundreds of brave journalists, presumably including his own Knight Ridder colleagues Hannah Allam and Tom Lassetter, is bad because his Marine colonel buddy tells him so. Allam added: I invite Mr. Yost to spend a week in our Baghdad bureau, where he can see our Iraqi staff members' toothbrushes lined up in the bathroom because they have no running water at home. I frequently find them camping out in the office overnight because electricity is still only sporadic in their sweltering neighborhoods, despite what I'm sure are the best-intentioned efforts of people like his Marine buddy working on the electrical grid. Yost, associate editor of the Pioneer Press and a former Navy sailor, sparked the debate with this column: I'm reminded of why I became a journalist by the horribly slanted reporting coming out of Iraq. Not much has changed since the mid-1980s. Substitute "insurgent" for "Sandinista," "Iraq" for "Soviet Union," "Bush" for "Reagan" and "war on terror" for "Cold War," and the stories need little editing. The U.S. is "bad," our enemies "understandable" if not downright "good." I know the reporting's bad because I know people in Iraq. That prompted Pioneer Press Chuck Laszewski to tell Yost in a letter cc'd to the Pi Press newsroom: "I am embarrassed to call you my colleague." — Posted at 00:31 am

NO PROBABLE CAUSE FOR CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST PORTLAND LAWYER. A recently declassified FBI email - written just one day before Portland lawyer Brandon Mayfield was arrested in May 2004 as a material witness in the Madrid train bombing investigation - acknowledged that the government did not enough evidence to arrest him on criminal charges, The New York Times reported Friday. Mayfield was later released with an apology from the FBI. — Posted at 00:28 am

Jul. 14, 2005

PRISON ESCAPE INVESTIGATION WON\'T SEE LIGHT OF DAY, MILITARY SPOKESPERSON SAYS. A U.S. military investigation into the recent escape of four Afghan detainees from a prison in Afghanistan probably won't be released to the public upon its completion, the Los Angeles Times reported today. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said that to release the report would be to reveal prison security vulnerabilities that could later be exploited by the enemy. — Posted at 11:32 am

NEW GUANTANAMO ABUSE REPORT CLASSIFIED, MAY STAY THAT WAY. Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt and Brig. Gen. John Furlow have written a secret report on Guantanamo Bay detainee abuse allegations that was the subject of study by the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, The Miami Herald reported. A Pentagon spokesperson had no information as to whether the report would be declassified even after congressional scrutiny. — Posted at 11:31 am

HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HEARING ON PATRIOT ACT OPENED. House Intelligence Committee hearings on the USA PATRIOT Act were opened to the public for the first time when Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich) allowed the Associated Press to attend, the news wire reported yesterday. — Posted at 11:30 am

Jul. 12, 2005

JUDICIARY COMMITTEES MULL PATRIOT ACT BILLS. The Associated Press reports the House and Senate Judiciary Committees will consider bills to eliminate the expiration dates on at least some provisions of the Patriot Act, which has enhanced the government's ability to conduct secret investigations in the name of anti-terrorism. A bill by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, set for mark-up tomorrow, would lengthen the duration of secret search warrants, The Washington Post reports. The ACLU has denounced Sensenbrenner's bill - which would enact the 16 expiring provisions permanently - as "flawed." — Posted at 4:16 pm

FRAUD LAW ONLY PROTECTS U.S. MONEY, JUDGE RULES. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis ruled this week in Alexandria, Vir., that a whistleblower's Fraud Claims Act lawsuit against American contractor Custer Battles could continue, but only insofar as it involved the misallocation of U.S. taxpayer money, The Washington Post reported today. "If I were a donor country [to Iraqi reconstruction efforts], I wouldn't be amused" by Judge Ellis's limitation on the Fraud Claims Act's reach, George Washington University law professor Steven L. Schooner told The Post. — Posted at 2:24 pm

U.S. DETAINEES ESCAPE, NO DETAILS RELEASED. Citing security and privacy concerns, the U.S. military has refused to release the names of four enemy combatant detainees who have escaped from a high-security prison in Afghanistan, Reuters reported today. Afghan authorities, on the other hand, had no qualms about publicly releasing their identities. — Posted at 2:23 pm

GOVERNMENT ADDICTION TO SECRECY. A New York Times editorial notes the Bush administration is classifying the documents to be kept from public scrutiny at the rate of 125 a minute, nearly doubling the number of documents annually kept from public view and opines that "the government's addiction to secrecy is making an unnecessary casualty of the openness vital to democracy." — Posted at 11:23 am

Jul. 11, 2005

FILMMAKER FREED. U.S. officials on Sunday released an Iranian-born filmmaker who had been detained for almost two months without being charged. Cyrus Kar, 44, of Los Angeles had been held as an "imperative security threat to Iraq," according to the Pentagon, after police found washing-machine timers in the cab in which Kar was riding. A subsequent investigation determined he was not an "enemy combatant," the military said. — Posted at 5:54 pm

GOVERNMENT PRESS CONFERENCE STATEMENTS ON MILITARY MEDICAL ETHICS CONFLICT WITH ARTICLE FINDINGS. Although Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley said in a press conference that a recent assessment of military policy "did not reveal any cases of collusion between medical personnel and any potential episodes of abuse," an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 7 cited a military policy statement that indicated otherwise. The statement "not only requires [medical] caregivers to provide clinical information to military and Central Intelligence Agency interrogation teams on request; it calls on them to volunteer information that they believe might be of value," the article said. — Posted at 5:19 pm

U.S. TROOP REDUCTION WILL HAPPEN SOON, BRITISH DEFENSE SECRETARY MEMO SAYS. A document written by British Defense Secretary John Reid - and marked "secret-UK eyes only" - alleges that the United States plans to cut its troops in Iraq from 176,000 to 66,000 very soon, according to Sunday's edition of the Daily Mail. The troop reduction would be achieved by handing over control of 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces by early next year. Reid responded to the memo's leak by saying no defininitive decisions had been made and that his memorandum was only meant to discuss possibilities. — Posted at 5:18 pm

FILMMAKER HELD IN IRAQ ON UNKNOWN CHARGES. An American citizen in Iraq putting the finishing touches on a documentary film on Cyrus the Great was arrested by Iraqi police and turned over to the U.S. military two months ago according to documents filed by the American Civil Liberties Union at the behest of his relatives in California. The pleadings relate that Cyrus Kar, part-time college professor and U.S. Navy veteran, is a citizen who emigrated to the U.S. from Iran as a child but has been held in Iraq without explanation for two months. No one has been able to learn why he is being held, according to court documents. — Posted at 11:00 am

MILITARY REPORT SURVEYS U.S. DETAINEES\' MEDICAL CARE. A military report analyzing the quality of prisoner medical care at American detention facilities across the globe reveals that only 32 of 1,000 military medical personnel interviewed have seen what they characterize as some form of abuse, including withholding pain medication, The New York Times reported Sunday. Though the report did not directly investigate recent allegations that mental health specialists participated in detainee interrogations, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army surgeon general, said at a press conference that doctors did not share detainees' medical information with their interrogators. — Posted at 10:54 am

THERE WERE MORE TERRORIST ATTACKS THAN WE THOUGHT, GOVERNMENT SAYS. The National Counterterrorism Center has revised its previous count of worldwide terrorist attacks in 2004 in an attempt to make "the most comprehensive" U.S. tracking of the statistics ever, The Associated Press reported. The new numbers - 3,192 attacks with 28,433 people killed - are approximately five times what previous estimates were. Critics alleged that the previous reports lowballed the number of terrorist attacks to make the Bush administration's "war on terror" look as successful as possible. — Posted at 10:53 am

Jul. 8, 2005

FEDERAL SHIELD BILL MOVING FORWARD Despite impending Supreme Court nomination hearings, the Senate Judiciary Committee will take time to hold hearings within the next month on the bipartisan federal reporter's shield bill, The Associated Press reports. Identical versions of the Free Flow of Information Act are pending in both houses of Congress. According to USA Today , a hearing is tentatively set for July 20. — Posted at 1:17 pm

CONNECTICUT GIS SAGA CONTINUES. Despite the Connecticut Supreme Court's June ruling that the Town of Greenwich, Conn., must release electronic geographical information system data to freedom of information requester Stephen Whitaker, Whitaker has yet to receive the information, Greenwich Time reported yesterday. Initially the town would only give Whitaker the data as it existed in 2001 when he first requested it, and Whitaker refused, asking for the up-to-the-minute 2005 GIS system. The town is deciding whether that is possible, and may subject the updated request to the freedom of information review process again. — Posted at 1:16 pm

TEXAS CHEMICAL PLANTS FREQUENTLY CLOSE TO CITIES, CONGRESSIONAL REPORT SAYS. A recently released congressional report reveals that there are more large population centers near chemical facilities in Texas than in any other state, the Houston Chronicle reported yesterday. The Congressional Research Service's report was written using risk management reports submitted by plants to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday that the EPA refuses to release the exact locations of the plants. — Posted at 1:14 pm

COMPUTER HARD DRIVE FOUND ERASED UPON STATE SENATOR\'S ACCESS REQUEST. California state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Garden Grove) has faced obstacles to information access from the California National Guard as he investigates allegations that the guard conducted domestic spying operations on anti-war protesters, The (San Jose) Mercury News reported. Dunn's investigation began after the newspaper recently reported that a National Guard email indicated that a Sacramento anti-war rally was being monitored. When the senator requested access to the email's author's computer, he was told that it had been erased. Dunn has threatened to issue legislative subpoenas. — Posted at 1:13 pm

Jul. 7, 2005

NEWSPAPERS SPEAK OUT ON JUDITH MILLER JAILING. "This is a proud but awful moment," The New York Times wrote in support of its reporter, Judith Miller, who was jailed yesterday for refusing to disclose her confidential sources to the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak. "Responsible journalists recognize that press freedoms are not absolute and must be exercised responsibly. This newspaper will not, for example, print the details of American troop movements in advance of a battle, because publication would endanger lives and national security. But these limits cannot be dictated by the whim of a branch of government, especially behind a screen of secrecy." "Freedom of the press and the public's right to know are under attack," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle. A "frightening attack on press freedom," wrote the Des Moines Register. The Detroit News called her jailing "unnecessary and vindictive" and said it "strikes at the heart of the news gathering process." The San Jose Mercury News accused Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald of "excessive prosecutorial zeal." "The terrible irony is that Ms. Miller, who is accused of no crime, may be the only person who goes to jail in this tangled affair," wrote The Miami Herald. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer wondered "Does (Robert) Novak enjoy his own personal shield for being a White House toady?" "It's an ugly, squalid bit of business over a case that likely doesn't even deserve to be a 'case,'" wrote the Boston Herald. Not all newspaper editorials were so supportive, however. The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal wrote that "If protecting the anonymity of sources is a virtue, so also is abiding by the final decisions of the courts, however misguided they may be." The (Madison, Wisc.) Capital Times called Miller "one of the worst reporters ever to write for a major American newspaper," but nontheless wrote that "the desire to punish the Bush administration, or Miller, for past wrongs cannot justify the removal of the essential right - and responsibility - of reporters to protect the identity of their confidential sources." Almost all of the editorials agreed, however, that Miller's jailing underscores the need for a federal reporter's shield law. "[T]he legal authority that Mr. Fitzgerald relies on must change," wrote The Washington Post. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal said that "Ulitmately, the solution is a federal shield law." — Posted at 12:50 pm

PROSECUTOR CITES JOURNALISTS IN ARGUING THAT REPORTERS SHOULD BE JAILED. In arguing in motion papers that reporters Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine should be jailed for refusing to testify about their confidential sources, Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald cited Time magazine's decision to comply with a subpoena and newspaper editorials arguing that reporters should obey final court orders to disclose, The New York Sun and The New York Times report. According to Editor & Publisher, Fitzgerald also suggested that Miller and Cooper could face criminal prosecution for refusing to testify. — Posted at 12:48 pm

PUBLIC FINALLY HEARS ABOUT NEW HALLIBURTON DEAL. The Army kept a new $5 billion deal for another year's worth of Halliburton logistics services in Iraq secret for two months because the spokeswoman for the division responsible for the contract "had simply been too busy with other news," The Washington Post reported yesterday. The $5 billion price tag is $1 billion higher than the Army paid Halliburton for the same type of services in the previous year. — Posted at 11:27 am

THERE\'S \'TOTAL TRANSPARENCY\' AT GUANTANAMO, SAYS BUSH. During his visit to Europe this week U.S. President George W. Bush advised Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that Guantanamo Bay detainees were treated humanely, and that Rasmussen or any journalist were free to observe the prison's completely tranparent operations for himself, Reuters reported yesterday. — Posted at 11:15 am

Jul. 6, 2005

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME. Subpoenaed reporters Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine asked for the subpoenas to be dropped as unneccesary, or to be sentenced to home confinement instead of jail for refusing to reveal their confidential sources, The Washington Post reports. Despite Time magazine's decison to reveal reporter Cooper's confidential source in the Valerie Palme investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitgerald continues to demand that Cooper and Miller testify or go to jail, The New York Times reports. — Posted at 11:16 am

LETTER TO THE EDITOR LAWSUIT DISMISSED. The Supreme Court of Arizona dismissed a lawsuit filed by two Islamic-Americans against the Tucson Citizen over a letter to the editor suggesting that the Iraqi insurgency could be stopped by executing innocent Muslims attending mosques, The Associated Press reports. The letter "does not fall within one of the well-recognized exceptions to the general rule of First Amendment protection for political speech," Justice Andrew D. Hurwitz wrote for the court in Citizen Publishing Co. v. Miller . — Posted at 11:14 am

PLAME SOURCE NAMED? MSNBC analyst Lawrence O'Donnell has revealed that Matt Cooper's source in the Valerie Plame invastigation is senior Bush advisor Karl Rove, Editor & Publisher reports. On his Huffington Post blog, O'Donnell wrote he had known the source for months but kept quiet to avoid being called before the grand jury. "I have had it reconfirmed by yet another highly authoritative source," he wrote. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, denies that Rove is Cooper's source, according to The Washington Post. — Posted at 11:09 am

Jul. 5, 2005

DRASTIC MEASURES FOR DRASTIC TIMES. The New York Times reports that news media subpoenas seem to be on the rise, while legal protections seem to be eroding. Despite a lack of available statistics, a number of media lawyers point to the increase in high-profile subpoena cases and recent unfavorable court rulings. "When the Supreme Court says there's nothing wrong with forcing reporters to testify and go to jail, other lawyers are looking at that and saying, 'Why shouldn't I subpoena a reporter?'" Kurt Wimmer, a media lawyer at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. said. In a Newsweek column , Jonathan Alter suggests that journalists employ the "Lysistrata Strategy," named after a play where women in ancient Greece withheld sex from their husbands until they stopped fighting the Peloponnesian War. "[S]o here's the deal," Alter wrote. "[N]o more off-the-record chats with White House political aides, members of Congress or their staffs unless they support the Free Flow of Information Act, a bipartisan federal media-shield bill now pending." — Posted at 6:06 pm

NEWSPAPER WEIGHS SECURITY-SECRECY DEBATE. An article in Sunday's New York Times considers various arguments about whether the Bush administration's record levels of document classifications are justified. Director of the federal Information Security Oversight Office J. William Leonard, for instance, believed that it had gotten out of control and told the paper that he has seen information redacted from government records that one could find in third-grade textbooks. National Security Council spokesman Frederick L. Jones, on the other hand, said that President Bush tries to mitigate secrecy when he can, most notably with his recent nomination of members to the Public Interest Declassification Board. — Posted at 2:19 pm

DETAINEE RECIDIVISM POORLY SUBSTANTIATED. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Alvin "Flex" Plexico has seconded Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent claim that 12 of 234 detainees released from Guantanamo Bay have since rejoined anti-coaltion forces, but refused to provide names or other specific information to prove it, The Miami Herald reported yesterday. "Our intel folks do not like to provide specifics," he said. — Posted at 2:17 pm

YOU\'LL JUST HAVE TO TRUST US THAT THIS GITMO SUCCESS STORY DID, IN FACT, OCCUR. Earlier this year U.S. Brig. Gen. Jay Hood boasted that one recently released Guantanamo Bay prisoner - who cannot be named out of respect for his privacy concerns - was so grateful for the prison's literacy program he now helps the U.S. war effort from Afghanistan, The Miami Herald reported yesterday. The literacy program helps detainees learn "some skills in case they ever return home." — Posted at 2:16 pm

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS DO THEIR BEST TO COMBAT FLAGPOLE TERRORISM. Flagpole locations at the Capitol building are secret information due to security concerns, according to an article written by John Kelly published yesterday by The Washington Post. After his casual inquiry for information was denied, Kelly plans to file a Freedom of Information Act request for records pertaining to the process by which flags are flown over the Capitol for sale to Americans through a member of Congress from their state. — Posted at 2:12 pm

WEST VIRGINIA\'S TERRORISM EXEMPTION EXTREMELY BROAD. The MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base Web site printed the text of West Virginia's newly amended Freedom of Information Act on Monday so readers could see its extremely broad exemption for information related to terrorism-preparedness. The exemption protects from freedom of information disclosure "records assembled, prepared or maintained to prevent, mitigate or respond to terrorist acts or the threat of terrorist acts, the public disclosure of which threaten the public safety or the public health." — Posted at 2:11 pm

GITMO STILL GARNERS VALUABLE INTELLIGENCE, MILITARY SAYS. A classified military briefing showed Guantanamo Bay visitors that intelligence continues to be garnered from the prison's detainees, one of the visitors - retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Don Sheppard - wrote for CNN's Web site on Friday. In addition, Sheppard saw that enemy combatants "are not held incommunicado - they are registered with the International Committee of the Red Cross and can send or receive mail." They also get three meals a day, good medical care, and interrogators strive to establish a friendly rapport with them, Sheppard said. — Posted at 2:09 pm

CONTRACTORS DESCRIBE EXPERIENCE IN AMERICAN CUSTODY. Private American contractors - who were detained for three days in Iraq after the U.S. military accused them of firing on them - claim they were abused while in custody and describe the little known details of their allegations in an article published by the Fox News Web site Friday. Put into cells next to Iraqi insurgent suspects, the contractors were "physically abused. knees, neck, tossed to the ground with [a female soldier] taking pictures." The contractors have since been released. The military has said it is investigating the charges. — Posted at 2:08 pm

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS SEEK INFORMATION ON U.S.\'S ALLEGED SECRET PRISONS. Despite the U.S.'s continuing claims that it only operates detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay in the face of allegations to the contrary, U.N. human rights experts have begun to investigate the fabled secret detention facilities, The Associated Press reported Thursday. Troubled by Washington legislators' failure to launch an in-depth inquiry into the possibility of secret centers, experts like U.N. torture scholar Manfred Nowak are asking former terrorist suspects whether they have any knowledge of detainee operations on U.S. warships in international waters or on the small Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. — Posted at 2:07 pm

GOVERNMENT RECORDS OFFER INSIGHT INTO DETAINEE BELLIGERENCE AT GITMO. Two hundred and seventy-eight pages of documents obtained by The Associated Press pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request shed some light on the "tense, hostile, and sometimes chaotic" atmosphere inside the U.S.'s Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, the news wire reported on Friday. The records documented incidents when unruly detainees struck guards, or threw liquids such as urine and spit on them. Although a soldier stated that military training included orders not to retaliate against prisoners "no matter what," the documents show that abused guards sometimes lost their cool and used pepper spray, a water hose, or punches to get back at disorderly detainees. — Posted at 2:05 pm

SENATORS DEMAND INVESTIGATION, MORE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TSA CONTRACTOR\'S WILD SPENDING. The Defense Contract Audit Agency has produced a secret report revealing that a private company contracted to do the Transportation Security Administration's hiring of airline passenger screeners made fraudulent charges, The Washington Post reported Friday. Sens. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore) have asked that the audit be released publicly. The private company - NCS Pearson, Inc. - was operating out of hotels, meeting facilities, luxury resorts and spas instead of its own facilities. In additional to those bills, the questionable spending documented by the audit includes $1,180 for 20 gallons of coffee at one hotel - $59 per gallon. — Posted at 2:04 pm

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR EXPANDED WHISTLEBLOWERS PROTECTION ACT. FBI whistleblower and director of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition Sibel Edmonds implored House Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va) to convene hearings on the expansion of the Whistleblowers Protection Act to cover employees of U.S. intelligence agencies like the FBI, CIA, TSA, DIA and others at a press conference last week, Official Wire reported on its Web site Thursday. "Employees of our intelligence agencies should never be forced to choose between career and conscience when faced with agency wrongdoing," Edmonds said. The ranking minority member of the House Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) sent a letter to the NSWBC announcing his support for such legislation. — Posted at 12:49 pm

Jul. 1, 2005

CONGRESSIONAL FOI ACT REQUEST DEMANDS DOWNING STREET DATA. Fifty-two members of Congress have signed onto a Freedom of Information Act request for U.S. records pertaining to the Downing Street minutes from the White House and the Defense and State Departments, The Raw Story Web site reported today. The now-public Downing Street minutes concern a meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair held with other government officials, which reveal that the Bush White House allegedly decided to go to war with Iraq well before has ever been acknowledged to the American people. — Posted at 4:15 pm

A BAD WEEK FOR A FREE PRESS. In addition to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear the appeal of two reporters ordered jailed for not revealing their confidential sources and Time magazine's decision to comply with the subpoena and reveal them, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. upheld contempt citations against four other reporters for refusing to give up their sources, the New York Sun reports. In an editorial, The Washington Post wrote "It's time for Congress to acknowledge that the cost of good journalism shouldn't be prison" and enact a federal reporter's shield law. But in its own editorial, The Wall Street Journal the wrote that "The truth, unfortunately, is that this is a debacle that some in the press corps have brought down upon themselves and the rest of us." — Posted at 4:13 pm

FLAK FOR NOVAK. Columnist Bob Novak, who first revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, has remained silent on his role in the ensuing grand jury investigation into who leaked it to him, much to the consternation of many other journalists. "I just can't figure it out. "Why in the world is New York Times reporter Judith Miller headed to jail next week while my Sun-Times colleague Robert Novak is not? Why is a reporter who has written not one single word about a CIA operative about to be sent to the federal slammer while another reporter, the one who actually broke the story, isn't in similar trouble?" wrote Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin. Novak has refused to even discuss whether he has been subpoenaed in the case. Novak's disclosure and his continuing silence are helping no one, wrote Jonathan Turley of the Los Angeles Times. Novak told The New York Times that he is dissapointed that two reporters face jail for refusing to disclose their sources in the investigation, and promised to reveal his role in a column once the investigation is complete. — Posted at 4:10 pm

ONLY TIME WILL TELL. Over reporter Matthew Cooper's objection, Time Inc. has decided to comply with a subpoena and turn over notes to the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, The Washington Post reports. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Time , Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller's appeals of contempt citations for refusing to divulge their confidential sources, Time editor Norman Pearlstine said in a press release, "The same constitution that protects the freedom of the press requires obedience to final decisions of the courts." Many have taken issue with Time's rationale, the L.A. Times reported, arguing that Time could have still shown respect for the law by accepting the punishment of being held in contempt. "Every time a reporter who has promised confidentiality to a source then hands over his or her notebooks or other materials involving that source to a government agency, the press - the entire press in this country - gets weaker. It creates a precedent and renders us less able to deliver independent information to the public. It's as simple as that," Sydney Schanberg wrote in the Village Voice. "It is a corporate response," Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and the law at the University of Minnesota told the L.A. Times. "It sends a message to judges and prosecutors seeking journalists' testimony that a fine may be a very effective way to overcome the scruples of a news organization." But Pearlstine told The New York Times that he made the decision on his own without pressure from the Time 's corporate owners. — Posted at 4:07 pm

GITMO DETAINEES STILL TALKING AFTER YEARS IN CUSTODY. Brig. Gen. Jay Hood has testified before the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. continues to gain valuable intelligence, as recently as within the past six months, from the approximately 520 Guantanamo Bay inmates who have been in American custody for many years, The Washington Post reported. The testimony helped address some of the committee members' concerns about the continuing need for the detention center. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif) said that although "[i]t's hard to believe that somebody that's been in captivity for three years actually knows something that is worthwhile about current operations that are going on around the world in the terrorist business, but they apparently do, and I believe you're doing a good job." — Posted at 4:05 pm

SLAIN IRAQI REPORTER REMEMBERED FOR HIS COURAGE AND DEDICATION. In an appreciation to her slain colleague, Iraqi Yasser Salihee, Knight Ridder's Baghdad bureau chief Hannah Allam recalls how the doctor-turned-journalist brought courage and realism to his war coverage. The U.S. Army is investigating Salihee's death, which apparently came at the hands of an American sniper. His curiosity took him across Iraq. He interviewed an insurgent leader at a clandestine meeting in Baghdad. He braved the road through the "Triangle of Death" to cover the aftermath of a battle in Najaf. He kept his cool in Fallujah as he convinced rebels with grenade launchers that we were "just journalists." Yasser happily accepted grueling, perilous assignments, and he rejoiced when his work appeared on the front pages of newspapers across the United States. He asked our home bureau in Washington for copies of his stories and ignored his colleagues' teasing when he proudly taped them to the wall in front of his desk. He was an integral part of Knight Ridder's courageous Iraqi staff, the men and women who make it possible for us to keep covering the news in the face of grave threats to Western correspondents. — Posted at 4:04 pm

GUANTANAMO INCREASINGLY DESCRIBED AS HOT VACATION SPOT. Just one week after Vice President Dick Cheney's statements that Guantanamo Bay prisoners live "in the tropics" with "everything they could possibly want," the military invited a handful of House Armed Services Committee members to tour the detention center to see for themselves how the secret facility is run, the Los Angeles Times reported. After the excursion, U.S. Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (R-Guam) echoed Cheney's sentiments. It's "more of a resort," she said. On the other hand, another member of the committee, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek), believed the visit was a calculated public relations effort, and implored the Bush administration to conduct the prison with more transparency to disprove allegations of abuse there. — Posted at 4:02 pm

MORE DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT SHOOTING OF IRAQI WORKING FOR KNIGHT-RIDDER. A U.S. military sniper apparently shot and killed an Iraqi special correspondent for Knight Ridder, Yasser Salihee, on June 24, the news service reported. The shot appears to have been fired by a U.S. military sniper, though there were Iraqi soldiers in the area who also may have been shooting at the time. Salihee, 30, had the day off and was driving alone near his home in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amariyah when a single bullet pierced his windshield and then his skull. — Posted at 4:01 pm