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.

Oct. 31, 2005

U.S. INVITES U.N. INSPECTORS TO GUANTANAMO. After nearly four years of requests to tour the detention facilities and increasing claims of human rights violations, the government invited U.N. inspectors to tour the Guantanamo facilities, The Washington Post reported Oct. 29. It is unclear whether the officials will accept. U.N. experts generally request private access to prisoners to evaluate allegations of mistreatment, the Post reported, but the Defense Department plans to impose fairly strict guidelines on any visit, and has not permitted previous visitors from Congress and the media direct access to detainees. — Posted at 12:02 pm

FULL INVESTIGATION REPORT WILL NOT BE RELEASED. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's full report on the investigation of the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity will remain secret, according to a letter from his office to four Democratic House members, a Washington Post blogger reported. The investigatory records, which led to a five-count indictment for the Vice President's Chief of Staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, may not be released in full because they are part of a grand jury investgation, Fitzgerald said. — Posted at 10:13 am

Oct. 28, 2005

FITZGERALD: SUBPOENA REPORTERS ONLY IN \"EXTRAORDINARY\" CASES Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said "I do not think reporters should be subpoenaed anything close to routinely. It should be an extraordinary case," in his press conference today about his investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, according to the Washington Post. "We then, when we issued the subpoenas, we thought long and hard before we did that. And I can tell you, there's a lot of reporters whose reporting and contacts have touched upon this case that we never talked to," Fitzgerald added. — Posted at 5:20 pm

MEDIA PRESENCE PUTS BULL\'S-EYE ON PALESTINE HOTEL, ARMY OFFICIAL SAYS. The presence of so many journalists at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel makes it a target for insurgents, including the ones who set off bombs at the hotel earlier this week, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday at a press conference in Baghdad. "Half the battle is in the battlefield of the media," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said. "The terrorists will use the media as a combat multiplier to hide their limited capabilities." — Posted at 1:45 pm

Oct. 27, 2005

U.S. MUST RELEASE MEDICAL RECORDS OF STARVING GUANTANAMO PRISONERS. The U.S. government must turn over the medical records of Guantanamo Bay detainees who are being force-fed to the detainees' lawyers, Reuters reported. U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered that the government must release records spanning the week before a forced feeding began and must provide them at least weekly until force-feeding ends. The judge's decision came after lawyers representing Guantanamo prisoners sought judicial oversight due to their clients' deteriorating health and "deeply troubling" allegations of inhumane treatment related to a hunger strike ongoing since August. — Posted at 6:11 pm

DEFENSE ATTORNEY LYNNE STEWART DENIED NEW TRIAL. Defense attorney Lynne Stewart has lost her bid for a new trial after her conviction on charges that she conspired to conduct a conspiracy, the New York Law Journal reported. Judge John Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected Stewart's claim that a new trial should be granted because a juror alleged she was intimidated into voting guilty when someone identified her and said "that's the holdout." "This comment contained no threat," Judge Koeltl said. "The defendants make much of the fact that the jurors were anonymous, but there is nothing about the comment that reveals the identity of the juror or even relates to the anonymity of the jury." — Posted at 1:04 pm

Oct. 26, 2005

AUDIT CAN\'T FIND RECORDS ON $20 MILLION IN GRANT MONEY. A special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction issued an audit report yesterday on the 74 "rapid regional response program" grants in South Central Iraq disbursed by the Coalition Provisional Authority before it was dissolved in June 2004. It showed that region personnel cannot acount for more than $20.5 million of $20.8 million in funds provided for the grants. The IG could not determine how grant recipients used the cash, could not find documentation to support grant performance, could not tell whether work covered by the grants was started or completed, to whom cash was actually disbursed in some grants, and "what benefit, if any, the Iraqi people received as a result of the grants." The audit team concluded that 98 percent of the awarded monies could not be accounted for. The development fund from which the grants were made channeled revenue from ongoing Iraqi oil sales, unencumbered Oil for Food deposits and repatriated Iraqi assets. — Posted at 4:59 pm

TERROR DETAINEES\' DEATHS RULED HOMICIDES. Homicides account for 21 of 44 deaths of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan detailed in reports received by the American Civil Liberties Union as part of its FOI Act lawsuit against the government. The detainees died during and after U.S. interrogations conducted by the Navy Seals, military intelligence and other government agencies - including the CIA, the ACLU said. Eight of the 21 homicides were found to be caused by strangulation, asphyxiation and blunt force injuries, according to the report, while many others were listed as "natural causes," it said. — Posted at 4:40 pm

SENATE BILL EXEMPTS ENTIRE AGENCY FROM RELEASING DATA. A proposed government agency would be completely exempt from releasing any information under the Freedom of Information Act if legislation to establish it is approved, the FAS Project on Government Secrecy reported. Legislation for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency is quickly moving through the Senate and provides for no judicial review of the categorical FOI Act exemptions to disclosure. — Posted at 4:17 pm

JUDITH MILLER ASSERTION SPARKS REQUEST FOR PENTAGON INVESTIGATION. New York Times reporter Judith Miller's assertion that she had a "security clearance" while she was embedded with troops in Iraq in 2003 sparked Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to ask the Pentagon inspector general to investigate why journalists are allowed to have temporary access to classified information while they are embedded with troops overseas, The Times reported. In remarks on the Senate floor, Mr. Dorgan said, "What kind of clearance would that reporter have to see classified or secret information?" — Posted at 3:17 pm

PENTAGON FLACK NOMINEE TAKING FLAK. J. Dorrance Smith, President Bush's pick to be chief Pentagon spokesman, is taking flak for an op-ed article he wrote in April accusing American television networks of helping Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, The New York Times reports. Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, vowed to defeat Smith, a former ABC News producer who worked as an adviser in both Bush administrations. Some Republicans also say Smith's nomination is in jeopardy. — Posted at 3:10 pm

FOREIGN JOURNALISTS HUNKER DOWN IN WAKE OF BLASTS. BBC, CNN, Reuters and other news organizations plan to remain in Baghdad, their officials said in the wake of bomb blasts close to the city's Palestine Hotel, the base for many foreign journalists. Three Associated Press journalists were injured in the blast, London's The Independent reported. Asked whether the news organisation would review its coverage of Baghdad, a spokesman for AP said: "We wouldn't even talk about that." — Posted at 12:08 pm

Oct. 25, 2005

JUDGE RULES CIA INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENTS MUST REMAIN SECRET. Without reviewing the materials in question, a federal judge held that a CIA intelligence estimate on Iraq must remain secret, pursuant to FOI Act exemptions 1, 3 and 5, citing concerns that national security information, internal sources and methods and the deliberative process would be revealed if the information was released. The National Security Archive reported that it sued the CIA for the 2004 Iraq National Intelligence Estimate in October 2004. It argued that the CIA kept unclassified materials that assessed the situation in Iraq for the same period as the NIE, but the judge refused to compare the documents, ruling that they must be kept secret. — Posted at 5:14 pm

BOMB SCARES HIT LA AIRPORTS. Bomb threats made to two Los Angeles-area airports were treated as "non-specific" and "non-credible" by the Department of Homeland Security, which kept secret any details beyond the fact that eight flights were affected, according to a Reuters report. — Posted at 4:46 pm

Oct. 24, 2005

CPJ INVESTIGATES DEATH OF JOURNALIST. A controversial Iraqi journalist was shot to death last week, and the Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the killing is linked to the editor's journalism. CPJ sources say Mohammed Haroon, 47, publisher of the weekly newspaper Al-Kadiya (The Cause) and secretary-general of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, was shot four times. — Posted at 2:02 pm

REPORTER TELLS STORY OF 36-HOUR KIDNAPPING IN IRAQ. Rory Carroll, the Baghdad correspondent for The Guardian of London, recounts 36 hours in captivity after being snatched by gunmen as he was leaving an interview Wednesday: The door clanged shut and a lock turned. Pitch blackness and silence. Going by previous hostage cases, this could be home for months. Still, no bag over the head, not chained to a radiator - could have been worse. I sat down and tried to remember why I volunteered for Iraq. Curiosity, ambition and hoping to clear my head after a broken relationship, among other things. It wasn't feeling clear now. No story was worth this. In any case I'd missed the story - Saddam could have broken down and pleaded guilty for all I knew. — Posted at 2:01 pm

NO CIA CHARGES IN TERROR SUSPECT DEATHS. Federal prosecutors do not intend to bring criminal charges in most cases involving CIA employees' alleged involvement in the deaths of four Iraqi and Afghan terror suspects, The New York Times reported. To date, the Justice Department has charged only one person linked to the CIA - a contract worker - with any wrongdoing. Both the CIA cases and Justice Department investigations remain secret. — Posted at 1:58 pm

MILITARY WON\'T COMMENT ON CONTRACTOR DEATHS. The U.S. military kept secret last month's deaths of four military contractors until this week, following a report by The Daily Telegraph, Reuters reported. Even then, a spokesman merely confirmed that the attack occurred on Sept. 20 and that soldiers removed the bodies, also administering aid to those wounded in the same attacks, giving no information as to why they had not disclosed the attacks earlier. The Telegraph reported that the contractors were employed by Halliburton unit Kellog, Brown & Root, and detailed the attacks. The military spokesman would not comment on the Telegraph's account of the attacks. — Posted at 1:57 pm

DOCUMENTS EXPOSE FBI SURVEILLANCE VIOLATIONS. Previously classified documents reveal FBI errors in intelligence gathering and provide rare glimpses into the government's secret surveillance, The Washington Post reported. In some cases, agents obtained e-mails after a warrant expired and seized bank records without proper authority. According to the Post, the documents include FBI investigations into errors related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which has increased dramatically since Sept. 11 but is largely hidden from public view. Much intelligence surveillance is authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is governed by a secret court that does not publicize its deliberations. — Posted at 1:55 pm

TECHNOLOGY OVERHAUL REQUIRED FOR FEDS TO MONITOR COMMUNICATION. Citing its need to keep abreast of terror issues, the Justice Department has extended the reach of a surveillance law to apply to new technologies including Internet telephone services, requiring entities using these services to change their systems to provide the government with easier access to monitor communication, The New York Times reported. The extension stems from a 1994 wiretap law and now reaches universities, libraries and other wireless service providers. The Justice Department's rationale for extending the act is that the new technologies were compromising the government's ability to conduct wiretaps "in their fight against criminals, terrorists and spies," the Times said. — Posted at 1:54 pm

Oct. 21, 2005

POLICE DESTROY PACKAGE, WON\'T SAY WHAT. Capitol police today declined to release the names of the two men they arrested after destroying a package in their rental car or to say whether the package had posed a danger. They said the rental car the men were using was registered in Florida. Streets around the Capitol building were closed for two hours as a result of the incident. — Posted at 5:30 pm

LEAK INVESTIGATION FOCUSED ON ROVE, LIBBY. According to The New York Times, top presidential aide Karl Rove and the top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, may be "in serious legal jeopardy." In addition, Reuters has reported that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, "appears likely to bring charges next week." — Posted at 5:27 pm

JOURNALIST FREED IN IRAQ. The 33-year-old Irish journalist reporting for The Guardian of London has been freed. Rory Carroll, kidnapped by gunmen earlier in the week, called his parents, Jo and Kate, at their home in Dublin, after he was released to Ahmed Chalabi, the deputy prime minister of Iraq. His father said: "He told me that he had been released, that he was perfectly OK and in an Iraqi government compound having a beer. "He just said, 'I am safe and well and I have all my limbs on. I was in my cell and representatives of the Iraqi government came for me, they had a government car waiting. I have been in Baghdad all the time.'" — Posted at 5:25 pm

Oct. 20, 2005

BUSINESSES URGE CONGRESS TO CURB PATRIOT ACT. Six business groups petitioned Congress to amend the Patriot Act to require investigators to say how sought-after business records are linked to individual suspected terrorists and to permit businesses to challenge requests for business records and speak publicly about them, the Vermont Guardian reported Oct. 14. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee they complained that, "Confidential files - records about our customers or our employees, as well as our trade secrets and other proprietary information - can too easily be obtained and disseminated under investigative powers expanded by the Patriot Act. These new powers lack sufficient checks and balances," the story reports. — Posted at 1:08 pm

COUNTERTERRORISM DEFENDANTS SEEK ACCESS TO SECRET DOCUMENTS. Attorneys for two defendants charged in a counterterrorism operation have asked a judge in New York for access to secret documents filed by the government under seal in the case, the Times Union reported Oct. 15. The documents are sealed because the government asserts they concern national security. The defendants' attorneys, however, claim that they need the information to present their defense. — Posted at 1:05 pm

SADDAM TRIAL TELEVISED, BUT SOME INFORMATION KEPT SECRET. After considerable dispute about televising the proceedings, when Saddam Hussein's trial began Wednesday, it was aired on state-run Iraqi television and over satellite stations across the Arab world, The Associated Press reported Oct. 19. Still, court procedures will keep some information secret. The identities of four of the five judges presiding over the trial have been kept secret to ensure their safety, the AP story states. Likewise, the names of the witnesses who will testify for the prosecution have been kept strictly secret to prevent reprisals against them. — Posted at 1:04 pm

BRITISH JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ BY GUNMEN. Rory Carroll, based in Iraq for The Guardian of London, was snatched by gunmen in Baghdad as he was leaving a house after an interview with a victim of Saddam Hussein's regime, his paper reports. Carroll, who was accompanied by two drivers and a translator, was confronted by the gunmen as he left the house where he had been carrying out the interview. He and one of the drivers were bundled into cars. The driver was released about 20 minutes later. Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said: "We're deeply concerned at Rory's disappearance. He is in Iraq as a professional journalist - and he's a very good, straight journalist whose only concern is to report fairly and truthfully about the country." The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement calling for Carroll's immediate release. — Posted at 1:03 pm

Oct. 19, 2005

FEDS TRACK PRINTOUTS WITH HIDDEN CODES. The government is using privately purchased laser printers to display secret coding containing the date and time a document was printed and the serial number of the printer, according to research by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Secret Service defends the action as part of an effort to find counterfeiters. The EFF said it has discovered the code in popular Xerox printers, but that it has found similar coding on printouts from nearly every major printer manufacturer dating back for 10 years. The coding consists of a pattern of yellow dots, visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light, The Washington Post reported. It's disturbing that something on this scale, with so many privacy implications, happened with such a tiny amount of publicity," said Seth Schoen, who led the EFF research. — Posted at 6:33 pm

SPANISH JUDGE ISSUES ARREST WARRANT FOR U.S. TROOPS WHO KILLED JOURNALISTS. A Spanish judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers responsible for killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukranian cameraman in Iraq, wire services report. The judge issued the warrant for three soldiers with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry - Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp - whose tank fired at a Baghdad hotel in April 2003, killing television journalist Jose Couso of Spain's Telecinco network and Taras Portsyuk of Reuters. U.S. military officials cleared the soldiers of any blame in the journalists' deaths. — Posted at 6:31 pm

DEFENSE HAS NO INSPECTOR GENERAL IN IRAQ. There is no inspector general in Iraq providing oversight for the Department of Defense, the office's acting inspector general told The Washington Post, and inspectors from the State Department currently in Iraq have yet to receive funding to continue monitoring in 2006. — Posted at 6:29 pm

Oct. 18, 2005

U.S. MARSHALS INTERROGATING JOURNALISTS SEEKING TO COVER SADDAM HUSSEIN\'S TRIAL. Journalists seeking credentials to cover Saddam Hussein's trial in Iraq have to be fingerprinted, have their irises scanned and answer a bevy of questions from U.S. marshals, including: "Have you ever experimented with drugs? Are you a drug addict? What kind of a car do you drive? What is your religion? and "Are your teeth real?" reports Dana Lewis, based in Moscow for Fox News. Let me confess, I already think a little bit of this is silly even before the interview when I am informed we will not be able to even carry a pen and notepad into the courtroom. A notepad and a pen ensure we get quotes and information accurately. Since when are notepads considered to be a security threat? I have interviewed presidents and prime ministers, from the Kremlin to the Knesset, and never been questioned about notepads! — Posted at 5:09 pm

Oct. 17, 2005

COLLEGE NUCLEAR SITES LAX ON SECURITY. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has opened investigations to determine whether security breaches exist for nuclear research reactors on college campuses. ABC News reported that its four-month investigation into security measures at the facilities on 25 campuses across the country found unlocked doors, sleeping guards and relatively easy access to control rooms and radioactive fuel. The NRC is investigating at least five schools, some of which use highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium to operate their reactors, the report said. — Posted at 4:07 pm

FBI DROPS WHISTLEBLOWER-SPARKED INVESTIGATION. No charges will be filed against a former defense secretary who underwent an FBI investigation amid charges of awarding defense contracts to friends, The Los Angeles Times reported. The FBI closed its investigation of John A. "Jack" Shaw who had been deputy undersecretary of defense at the time whistleblowers made allegations of improprieties. Shaw denied any wrongdoing. — Posted at 4:05 pm

ROVE TESTIFIES AGAIN. Karl Rove, President George Bush's top political advisor, testified Friday for the fourth time during special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. "Zachary Carter, a former U.S. Attorney in New York, said any time an official testifies multiple times "there's always the risk that they may be perceived as having testified inconsistently," according to Reuters. — Posted at 4:03 pm

Oct. 13, 2005

CONTEMPT FINDING LIFTED. New York Times reporter Judith Miller completed her testimony about her coversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, regarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. After her tesitmony, Judge Thomas F. Hogan lifted the contempt finding against Miller. Miller spent 85 days in prison under the contempt finding for refusing to testify to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and his investigation into the leak. — Posted at 1:16 pm

ARMY OFFICER CLAIMS SHE WAS MEANT \"TO TAKE THE FALL\" FOR ABU GHRAIB ABUSE. Months before the photos depicting detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison became known to the public, the former commanding general of the prison learned of their existence by email but was ordered by her superiors to keep them secret, she told The Beauford Gazette . In her recently released book, Col. Janis Karpinski also claims she was demoted from brigadier general to colonel amid allegations that her actions - or inactions - led to the abuse at the prison, but that she had actually been relieved of her charge of the prison at the time of the scandal. — Posted at 1:14 pm

Oct. 12, 2005

KILLINGS OF TWO JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ CHILLING MEDIA COVERAGE. The deaths in Iraq of American freelancer Steven Vincent on Aug. 2 and Iraqi journalist Fakher Haider on Sept. 19 are chilling the press corps covering the war, The New York Times reported. The two killings have quieted all but the most private conversations about the people who may have committed them. Shortly before Mr. Haider's death, however, The Times spent a week in Basra investigating Mr. Vincent's death and found in his killing a reflection of the climate of violence, rapacious politics and dread that has in recent months throttled the city. — Posted at 12:02 pm

Oct. 11, 2005

SOURCES SAY LIBBY DID NOT DISCLOSE EARLIER MEETING WITH MILLER. According to National Journal , Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a top aide of Vice President Dick Cheney, did not disclose his June 23, 2003 conversation with New York Times reporter Judith Miller during both his grand jury testimony and during his FBI interviews. Sources told National Journal that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald only recently learned about the June 23 meeting during his interviews with Miller. Fitzgerald has also "expressed significant interest in whether Libby may have sought to discourage Miller" from testifying, according to the article. — Posted at 8:21 pm

NEW KENTUCKY TERRORISM LAW BROAD SECRECY MEASURE. The Associated Press goes to court tomorrow in Frankfort, Ky., to protest the use by the governor and the state police of a newly enacted statute to defend against terrorism. The state officials have invoked it to keep secret how much they spent to guard Vice President Dick Cheney in a brief visit to Louisville on his way to an appearance at an Indiana congressman's fundraising campaign. The 2005 Kentucky legislature enacted an exception to the state's open records law to protect "vulnerability in preventing, protecting against, mitigating or responding to a terrorist act." Its sponsor called the breadth of secrecy under the measure a surprise. AP's attorney, Jon Fleischaker, said the measure is being used to deny access to "anything they want." — Posted at 8:16 pm

LAWYERS PREPARING FOR ESPIONAGE ACT CHARGES. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may be looking into charging leakers in the Valerie Plame outing with the Espionage Act, according to TIME Magazine. "Fitzgerald would face fewer hurdles proving a case under the statute, which bars transmitting 'information relating to the national defense' to anyone not entitled to receive it, than under the more exacting Intelligence Identities Protection Act." — Posted at 8:12 pm

NYC RELAXES SUBWAY TERROR ALERT. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's challenger is calling for details as to what the city knew about the terror threats to the subway system and when, The New York Times reported. As the city lowers its high terror alert, three people remain detained in Iraq in connection with the alleged plot. Anonymous law enforcement sources have said the investigations has not yet produced any evidence of a terror plot, the Times said. — Posted at 8:10 pm

LIBBY\'S WAIVER QUESTIONED. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald urged I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, to tell New York Times reporter Judith Miller to testify, according to a Reuters report. "The prosecutor's encouragement. . . has prompted some lawyers in the case to question whether Cheney's aide was acting completely voluntarily when he gave Miller the confidentiality waiver she had insisted on." — Posted at 8:08 pm

MILLER DISCOVERS NOTES FROM EARLIER MEETING WITH LIBBY. New York Times reporter Judith Miller has discovered notes from a June 23, 2005 meeting with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby that Libby mentioned Joseph Wilson, husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, according to Reuters. The discovery is important because, according to Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff in an Editor and Publisher story, "Wilson's identity was not yet public." The discovered notebook could mean that Libby was the original source of the Plame leak. — Posted at 8:05 pm

SUPREME COURT DENIES PATRIOT ACT APPEAL. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the American Civil Liberties Union's emergency motion to release their client library association from a gag preventing it from speaking out about the FBI's demands for its records, the New York Times reported. The ACLU argued that the gag, imposed under the Patriot Act, is unconstitutional, and will continue its fight before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. — Posted at 8:02 pm

Oct. 7, 2005

PARTIES DISPUTE WIRETAP MATERIAL IN AIPAC CASE. The judge presiding over the case of two former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee charged under the Espionage Act has ordered briefing about whether the government must turn over electronic surveillance in which the defendants incriminate themselves, according to the Jewish Times. Attorneys for the government asserted that the material was collected through wiretaps authorized by the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts and, moreover, that they need not turn over data that does not exculpate the defense, the same story reports. The presiding judge, however, was reportedly taken aback by these arguments: "Have you ever heard of a case where a defendant couldn't have his own statements? I have been on the bench 18 years, with another 20 years before that, and it has never happened." The goverment filed a brief Sept. 29 and the defense has until the Oct. 7 to respond. — Posted at 3:41 pm

CIA TO KEEP 9/11 REPORT SECRET. The CIA inspector general's report on the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 will not be released in its entirety - if at all, CIA Director Porter Goss announced this week, The Associated Press reported. Goss also said he will not hold former CIA director George Tenet or other CIA officers responsible for their performances before the attacks. — Posted at 12:35 pm

FEDS KEPT SECRET NYC SUBWAY TERROR THREATS. Terror threats against New York's subways that were known since last weekend were kept secret until Thursday when two suspects were captured - prohibiting New York police from increasing security and raising public alert, The New York Times reported. A New York TV station learned of the plot earlier in the week but "agreed under heavy pressure to hold the news," the Times reported. — Posted at 12:23 pm

FEDS SAY TERROR PLOTS CONTAINED IN INTERCEPTED AL-QAIDA LETTER. The Pentagon says an intercepted letter written by an Osama bin Laden deputy contains terror plans for an al-Qaida "global jihad," The Washington Post reported. The letter, described as a "treatise," provides a "comprehensive look at al-Qaida's strategy in Iraq and beyond," the Post reported a senior government official saying. The letter was captured in counterterrorism operations in Iraq, according to officials. They said information about the letter was released after its existence had already leaked to reporters. — Posted at 12:00 pm

TERROR PLOTS FOILED, WHITE HOUSE SAYS. The White House announced 10 terror plots that President Bush says were stopped by the U.S. and its allies in the last four years - three of which made the U.S. a target. The announcement followed threats of possible bombings in the New York subways. The White House would not elaborate on the plots, citing the ongoing war on terror. — Posted at 11:45 am

FITZGERALD MAY CALL MILLER BACK FOR MORE TESTIMONY. The New York Times has reported that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may have more questions for Times reporter Judith Miller and has asked to meet with her next Tuesday. Fitzgerald reportedly has more questions about Miller's conversations with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby regarding the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. — Posted at 11:40 am

CIA KEEPS PUBLISHED BIN LADEN STATEMENTS SECRET. Published statements made by Osama bin Laden from 1994 to 2004 were denied release by the CIA last week, yet will be made available next month in a book published by Verso, according to a report by the FAS Project on Government Secrecy. The CIA refused release under an exemption to the FOI Act, stating that the material would compromise "intelligence sources and methods" and that it was obtained on a privileged basis, the report said. — Posted at 11:29 am

Oct. 6, 2005

FULL REPORT ON AFGHAN PLANE CRASH MADE PUBLIC. A private firm contracting with the military in Afghanistan whose plane crashed into an Afghan mountainside last year was in violation of several government regulations and contract requirements, according to a report released this week - facts previously kept secret in the military's release of the report. Following last month's release of the military report - with many findings blacked out - the families of the six victims released a copy of the full report this week in which the pilots were faulted for "poor navigation and decision making," The Washington Post reported. The full report also stated that weather, mechanical problems and enemy fire were not factors in the crash. The government said it is still investigating the accident. — Posted at 12:15 pm

ACLU SEEKS SUPREME COURT REVIEW IN PATRIOT ACT CASE. The ACLU filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court Oct. 3 seeking to remove a gag that prevents librarians from speaking about FBI demands for their records under the Patriot Act, The Associated Press reported. According to the government, the gag is needed to prevent suspected terrorists from learning about terrorism investigations. A U.S. District Court judge had ordered the gag removed because it silenced "individuals with a constitutionally protected interest in speech and whose voices are particularly important in an ongoing national debate about the intrusion of governmental authority into individual lives." Per the government's appeal, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the district court's decision, so now the ACLU seeks Supreme Court review. — Posted at 12:13 pm

SEVEN DOCUMENTED DETENTIONS OF THE MEDIA BY U.S. FORCES IN 2005. So far this year, there have been seven documented cases of reporters, photographers and camera operators working for Agence France-Press, CBS News, The Associated Press and other news organizations being detained by U.S. forces for prolonged periods without charge or without the disclosure of evidence against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. A commentary by CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper in the fall/winter issue of CPJ's Dangerous Assignments reports that at least three of the documented detentions have surpassed 100 days, while the others last many weeks. The U.S. military has refused to explain the detentions, Cooper writes. — Posted at 12:12 pm

Oct. 4, 2005

BUSH WON\'T RELEASE MIERS\' WHITE HOUSE DOCUMENTS. Citing the importance of the executive privilege, President Bush announced that he will not release documents relating to the work that Supreme Court justice nominee Harriet Miers has done for the White House, The Washington Post reported. In a news conference, Bush predicted that Democrats would request the documents as a distraction from determining "whether or not she will be a good judge," according to The Associated Press. — Posted at 2:11 pm

TATE: LIBBY CLEARED MILLER TO TALK OVER A YEAR AGO. Joseph Tate, the lawyer for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, claimed that reporter Judith Miller and her lawyers were to blame for her incarceration, according to a story in the Washington Post. He stated that Libby had given Miller a voluntary, uncoerced waiver over a year ago to reveal him as the confidential source she talked to about the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Miller's attorney, Floyd Abrams, disputes this version and has stated that he agreed to give up her source only after obtaining a personal and voluntary waiver from Libby. According to Abrams, Tate had told him the earlier waiver was coerced because "Libby was required to sign it as part of his government employment," according to the Post . Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor investigating the leak of Plame's identity, said in a letter earlier in the year that he thought Libby "deliberately failed to intervene" because "it would not be in his best interest," according to a story in The New York Sun. However, the letter also said the Fitzgerald later suspected the problem might be "a misunderstanding between attorneys," according to the Sun. — Posted at 2:09 pm

Oct. 3, 2005

FLU DATA KEPT FROM TERRORISTS. Cox news reporter Rebecca Carr today described a 34-page document by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that will shield 19 categories of sensitive but unclassified flu information. The article, appearing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, quoted scientists who are concerned about the secrecy in the face of needs to share information in searching for a cure for avian flu. Apparently officials have argued that national security would be more vulnerable to biological attack if the records were released. The security pamphlet is on the Federation of American Scientists' Web site. — Posted at 4:59 pm

CONGRESS ROLLS BACK SENSITIVE SECURTY DESIGNATIONS. Congress called for the Department of Homeland Security to tighten up procedures for determining whether transportation security information should be marked secret, the Federation of American Scientists reported. "Sensitive security information," or SSI, includes airport security plans as well as other undefined information that may be deemed too sensitive for public release. In a report, members of Congress noted that current practices withhold information that should be in the public domain, the FAS Project on Government Secrecy report said. — Posted at 4:58 pm

RUMSFELD SAYS HE WILL LOOK INTO REPORTER SAFETY IN IRAQ. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a senior Republican lawmaker last week that he would look into concerns about the rise in detentions and accidential shootings of reporters in Iraq by U.S. forces. The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote Rumseld earlier in the week asking the Pentagon to address concerns about the safety of journalists in Iraq. — Posted at 4:01 pm

U.S. MILITARY SAYS SHOOTING JOURNALIST WAS JUSTIFIED. The U.S. military was responsible for and justified in killing an Iraqi correspondent for Knight Ridder June 24, according to a U.S. military investigation, Knight Ridder reported. The shooting of Yasser Salihee was justified because U.S. soldiers thought he could have been a suicide bomber or attemping to run them over as he approahced an intersection, according to the 3rd Infanty Division's report. — Posted at 2:48 pm

MILITARY SPIES\' IDENTITIES REMAIN SECRET UNDER LEGISLATION. Pentagon intelligence operatives would be allowed to keep their identity secret when gathering information from U.S. citizens under a bill approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, the Los Angeles Times reported. The measure is part of a larger legislative effort to allow government investigation and prevention of terrorism, effectively rolling back several privacy-related protections currently in place. — Posted at 2:33 pm

LAWYERS DISPUTE DETAILS OF MILLER DEAL. Joseph Tate, the lawyer for Lewis "Scooter" Libby disputes claims made by Judith Miller and her lawyer, Floyd Abrams, regarding the nature of the waiver Libby had given Miller to testify. Miller agreed to testify only after Libby assured her that he was not coerced into waiving his confidentiality as her source in the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. In a letter written to Miller last month, Libby expressed surprise that he needed to repeat "the waiver of confidentiality that I specifically gave your counsel over a year ago," according to Time Magazine. "The assertion by Libby's team that he had been giving her the green light all along brought a quick rebuttal from [Abrams]. In a letter to Libby's lawyers to 'set the record straight,' Abrams argued that until recently, the waiver offered by Libby's lawyers always amounted to a reference to the previously signed waiver that Miller considered 'coerced.' That position, Abrams said, led Miller's team to assume that Libby wasn't really keen on seeing Miller testify, no matter what Libby's lawyers implied - a hesitation that gave Miller pause. 'He didn't call. He didn't write,' said Abrams on MSNBC. After a while, 'you draw certain conclusions,'" according to a Time story. — Posted at 2:31 pm