Defense Intelligence Agency Again Seeks FOIA Exemption
A provision that would allow the Defense Intelligence Agency to withhold information in its operational files is attached to each of two massive Senate authorization bills, one for defense and the other intelligence. There were never any hearings on the measure, which was rejected by the Congress in 2000. Open government advocates are urging the provision be stripped from both bills. They say it would exclude unclassified information, such as treatment of detainees, from release under the Freedom of Information Act. There is no similar language in the House authorization bills. The defense bill, S 1042, is headed for a House-Senate conference committee, and one congressman, Henry Waxman of California, has already urged the provision be dropped. (12/13/05).