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, 2006

CANADIAN LAW BLOCKS AMERICAN PRESS FROM REPORTING ON TERRORISM CASE. Superior Court of Ontario Justice Bruce Durno ruled that Canadian law bars the media from reporting about evidence presented during the bail hearings of 17 Canadians accused of plotting terror attacks in southern Ontario, the Associated Press reported. A defense lawyer said that his client and some suspects are accused of plotting to storm Parliament, take hostages and possibly behead the prime minister if Muslim prisoners were not released from prison, the story reports. — Posted at 11:56 am

ACLU APPEALS GERMAN MAN\'S TORTURE CASE. The ACLU Tuesday said it had appealed the decision of U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis dismissing the suit by Khaled el-Masri, who claims he was abducted and tortured by the CIA, Reuters reported. Ellis threw out the case, accepting the government's arguments that allowing it to unfold would threaten national security by revealing state secrets. In a press release, ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said that depriving El-Masri "of his day in court on the ground that the government cannot disclose facts that the whole world already knows only compounds the brutal treatment he endured." — Posted at 11:55 am

Jul. 26, 2006

DOJ SUES MISSOURI TO BLOCK ACCESS TO AT&T-NSA RELATIONSHIP. The Justice Department sued two Missouri Public Service Commission Members Tuesday to block them from getting information about whether AT&T handed over Missouri customers' data to the government in violation of state privacy laws, The Associated Press reported. Two commission members issued subpoenas to the phone company last month to uncover the information. In its suit to block the subpoenas, the administration argued that disclosing the requested information would cause "exceptionally grave harm to national security." — Posted at 6:27 pm

CHICAGO AT&T SUIT THROWN OUT DUE TO STATE SECRETS. A federal judge yesterday dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU against AT&T citing national security The Associated Press reported. "[R]equiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government would give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," Kennelly wrote. The ACLU claimed that AT&T had illegally turned over customer records to the National Security Agency for its warrantless wiretapping program. The ACLU's Chicago suit, filed on behalf of author Studs Terkel, was one of many such lawsuits filed against AT&T and other phone companies. Courts have disagreed over whether they should be dismissed on state secrets grounds. — Posted at 5:57 pm

SPECTER\'S PROPOSED WIRETAPPING BILL TOOTHLESS? A draft bill negotiated between Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and the White House and considered today by the Senate Judiciary Committee would permit, but not compel, the administration to submit its warrantless surveillance program to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court and be declared retroactively legal, the Los Angeles Times reported. The bill would also transfer all lawsuits filed in federal courts around the country that challenge the program's legality to the FISA Court for review, Newsday reported. Responding to critics who claim that the bill has no teeth since it doesn't require the administration to submit its program to the FISA Court, Specter told the Times that Bush personally promised him he would submit to the bill if it passes in its current form. — Posted at 5:55 pm

Jul. 25, 2006

IN THE \'OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED\' CATEGORY. In an aggressive attempt to find out who among them is leaking information to the news media, National Security Agency officials have an updated policy "that could require every agency employee to hunt for leaks," current and former intelligence officials told The (Baltimore) Sun. — Posted at 2:24 pm

CIA EMPLOYEE SAYS SECRET BLOG ENTRY COST HER A JOB. A message posted by a CIA contract employee on a classified computer server in which she discussed the "waterboarding" interrogation technique - a harsh tactic in which a prisoner is strapped to a board and made to feel as if he is drowning - as "torture," led to the termination of her contract, she alleges. The secret internal web log is on of more than 1,000 intended to share ideas across the intelligence community. The former employee, Christine Axsmith, said she "wanted an in-house discussion" of the issue. — Posted at 12:37 pm

JUDGE ORDERS DOJ TO HELP IDENTIFY SECRET CASES. A U.S. District Court Judge has ordered the Department of Justice to cooperate with advocacy group People for the American Way Foundation in its Freedom of Information Act request seeking to discover how often the government attempted to seal cases involving post-9/11 detainees. The DOJ initially requested nearly $400,000 in search fees, and then rejected the request entirely as unreasonably burdensome. D.C. District Court Judge John D. Bates rejected the department's argument that the search would have to be done by hand, and instead ordered the DOJ to use the PACER database system to help produce a response to the PFAWF records request. A joint status report updating the parties' progress is due in court no later than August 25, 2006. — Posted at 12:32 pm

Jul. 21, 2006

NSA CASE GOES FORWARD DESPITE STATE SECRETS CLAIM. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco denied the government's request to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that AT&T illegally gave customers' communications data to the government, rejecting the government's claim that the case will expose state secrets if allowed to go foward, The New York Times reported. The National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program has been so widely reported there appears to be no danger of revealing information that would jeapordize national security, Walker reasoned. — Posted at 4:33 pm

Jul. 19, 2006

BUSH PREVENTED OVERSIGHT ON EAVESDROPPING PROGRAM. Although many lawyers and advisers had access to information about the White House's warrantless wiretapping surveillance program, President Bush blocked investigation by Justice Department attorneys, according to recent testimony by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee. While allowing necessary security clearances to numerous investigators and agents, the Office of Professional Responsibility was denied those clearances by the president, Gonzales told Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and other members of the committee. For Gonzales's testimony, click here. — Posted at 3:41 pm

Jul. 18, 2006

NOVAK CLAIMS HE DIDN\'T OUT PLAME. Robert Novak, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist, argued Sunday on Meet the Press that he did not out CIA agent Valerie Plame, according to Editor & Publisher. "I don't think I outed her," he told NBC's Tim Russert. "I think she was outed by Aldridge Aimes before. I don't think she was a, a covert operative." Novak also said made a "misstatement" on a previous appearance on Meet the Press where he said that a "senior official" gave him Plame's name. Now Novak said he got Plame's name from "Who's Who in America," according to E&P . — Posted at 3:24 pm

REPORT DETAILS BUG ZOO AND BEAN FEST AS VULNERABLE TO TERRORISTS. Following a May decision by the Department of Homeland Security to drastically reduce anti-terrorism funds to Washington, D.C. and New York, a Homeland Security inspector released a report detailing where some of the funds will go - to protect assets including an insect zoo, a bourbon festival, a bean fest and a kangaroo conservation center in Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Maryland. The report showed Indiana with 8,591 "key assets," compared with New York's 5,687 - conspicuously missing in New York were Times Square, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. — Posted at 1:36 pm

Jul. 17, 2006

CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCHERS EVALUATE PUBLISHING CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. A new report issued by the Congressional Research Service examines unauthorized disclosure of classified information, its publication and potential penalties for violators. The report also discusses First Amendment implications of applying the Espionage Act to newspapers that publish classified information. — Posted at 12:32 pm

ARMY REOPENS INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH OF IRAQI \"POISON MASTER.\" After Salon began investigating and reviewing documents related to two separate Army investigations on the death of Saddam Hussein's poison master, the Criminal Investigation Command has begun a third inquiry into how the 65-year-old Dr. Muhammad Munim al-Azmerli died while in custody at a U.S. military hospital. The second investigative report, which Salon obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, contained reports from an investigator who was concerned about the adequacy of the investigations. — Posted at 11:23 am

Jul. 14, 2006

PLAME SUES OVER OUTING. Former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband, ambassador Joseph Wilson, filed suit yesterday against Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and presidential advisor Karl Rove alleging that they conspired to destroy her career "by leaking her identity as an undercover CIA operative to the press," according to The New York Times. — Posted at 11:34 am

Jul. 12, 2006

NOVAK EXPLAINS ROLE IN PLAME CASE. Syndicated columnist Robert Novak revealed his sources who told him Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent as presidential advisor Karl Rove, CIA public information officer Bill Harlow, and a third source "whose name has not yet been revealed," according to his column in the Chicago Sun-Times. Novak revealed his sources after being told by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that his investagtion into Novak's role in the leak had been concluded. Harlow, however, has a different memory of his conversation with Novak, saying he told Novak that "if he did write about Wilson's Niger trip, Plame's name should not be revealed," according to the Washington Post. — Posted at 3:45 pm

Jul. 11, 2006

ARMY TO CALL REPORTERS TO TESTIFY. In an effort to support its charges against a soldier who refused to fight in Iraq because of his objections to the war, the U.S. Army plans to require two journalists to testify, according to Reuters. Independent journalist Sarah Olson and Honolulu Star Bulletin reporter Gregg Kakesako interviewed First Lt. Ehren Watada, who claimed he "became ashamed of wearing the uniform," according to Reuters. — Posted at 2:35 pm

LET THE PRESSES ROLL. Journalists faced with the dilemma of whether to publish secret information should let the presses roll for the good of democracy unless editors are overwhelmingly convinced that more damage will be done by revealing the information, deans of five journalism schools wrote in a piece published Sunday in The Washington Post. A Chicago Tribune opinion piece questions why Bush didn't go to court in an effort to stop The New York Times from publishing a story on the government's monitoring of financial transactions between suspected terrorists. And Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger tells The Buffalo News that the paper is "very good at holding secrets. There are things we know today that we will not publish, because in our judgment they would adversely affect national security in a significant way. They would really cause lives to be put in danger." — Posted at 12:13 pm

BUSH V. KELLER? In the category of who do you most trust - President Bush or New York Times Editor Bill Keller? - Slate's Jack Shafer says the choice is clear. — Posted at 12:11 pm

Jul. 6, 2006

BLACKLISTING JOURNALISTS. Rod Nordland, chief foriegn correspondent for Newsweek and Baghdad bureau chief from 2003 to 2005, says there are reporters who "have been blacklisted because the military wasn't happy with the work they had done on embed," Foreign Policy magazine reports in a Q&A with Nordland. But the military has started censoring many [embedded reporting] arrangements. Before a journalist is allowed to go on an embed now, [the military] check[s] the work you have done previously. They want to know your slant on a story-they use the word slant-what you intend to write, and what you have written from embed trips before. If they don't like what you have done before, they refuse to take you. — Posted at 3:47 pm

A LOOK BACK. The New York Times has a look back at the history of newspapers publishing -- and not publishing -- secrets, noting the journalists are reluctant to pass up a scoop. Yet for decades, American newspapers and broadcasters have regularly censored themselves on security grounds, plucking compromising details from a story, delaying its publication or killing it entirely. The New York Times has withheld articles that might have jeopardized counterterrorism programs or efforts to protect vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear material. Reporters have removed details about invasion plans, military equipment, allies' assistance and much else. — Posted at 3:46 pm

DEFENDING THE FOURTH ESTATE. The top editors of the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times said in a joint commentary that great pains go into the decision to publish information on classified government programs and that no article on such a program gets published until responsible officials have been given a fair shot at commenting. Dean Baquet and Bill Keller said both papers have withheld or delayed stories after the administration convinced them that benefits to the public of running the story did not outweigh the risk of publication. We understand that honorable people may disagree with any of these choices -- to publish or not to publish. But making those decisions is the responsibility that falls to editors, a corollary to the great gift of our independence. It is not a responsibility we take lightly. And it is not one we can surrender to the government. The top editors of The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post were asked but declined to be a part of the joint commentary, Editor & Publisher reported. Keller further defended the Times' decision to run the financial records monitoring story on CBS' "Face the Nation" and on PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." — Posted at 2:42 pm

Jul. 5, 2006

BUSH ORDERED LEAK OF PLAME\'S IDENTITY President Bush told Vice President Dick Cheney to "personally lead an effort to counter allegations made" by ambassador Joseph Wilson by disclosing "highly classified intelligence information that would not only defend his administration but also discredit Wilson," according to sources familar with Bush's testimony before special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, according to the National Journal. Bush also testified, however, that he never ordered anyone to leak the identity of Wilson's wife, CIA officer Valerie Plame. — Posted at 5:41 pm

CALIF. ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS SPYING ON PROTESTERS VIOLATES RIGHTS. Protesters' constitutional right of free speech is violated when government officials track their demonstrations, the California Attorney General's office said. "That kind of conduct by anti-terrorism intelligence agencies threatens civil liberties ... and violates this office's policy regarding criminal intelligence gathering," a spokesman said. Officials said they have stopped monitorig the antiwar and polical rallies in question, the Los Angeles Times reported. — Posted at 5:40 pm

FEDS ACKNOWLEDGE YET AGAIN THAT CLASSIFICATION IS INCONSISTENT. The Government Accountability Office released a report discussing questionable classification of documents within the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. The report noted inconsistent treatment of similar information within the same document and questioned whether information marked as classified met proper classification requirements. In March, the GAO reported that agencies are using 56 different classifications to withhold information from the public. The program manager for a new national information sharing environment testified to Congress in May that only 17 categories legally exist to withhold information and his mission is to set forth a "rational, limited set of categories" for withholding information. — Posted at 5:39 pm

WHILE FOIA REQUESTS FALL, AGENCY BACKLOGS CONTINUE TO RISE. Despite a decline in the number of requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act from 2004 to 2005, agency backlogs delaying release of information rose from 20 percent to 31 percent, a recent study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government found. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Housing and Urban Development were the worst offenders with backlogs of 131 percent and 127 percent, respectively. — Posted at 5:37 pm

POLICE CHIEFS SAY WASHINGTON NOT SHARING ENOUGH SECURITY INFO. Some major police departments complain that the Department of Homeland Security continues to deny access to important information regarding terrorist threats and activity. Police chiefs from some of the country's biggest cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, plan to meet with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in July to discuss allowing greater access to intelligence data, The Wall Street Journal reported. — Posted at 5:36 pm