On 3/6/06, coderman <coderman@gmail.com> wrote:
hey, at least the cypherpunks aren't mentioned! *grin*
sorry, my humor is lacking; this list is a few hundred KSLOC from being any kind of threat. KE KE KE...
Bush declares war on freedom of the press March 6, 2006 07:44 AM / The Rant .
looks like this hit msnbc?? favorite quotes: """ ... the Justice Department is aggressively trying to identify the sources for two explosive news stories: the existence of secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons in eastern Europe, and the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programme... "When you have more and more information being classified, and more and more secrets being kept, the only way reporters can get information is when internal whistleblowers provide it. And that drives this administration crazy," says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. In the first four years of the administration, the volume of classified documents barred from public distribution nearly doubled to close to 16m annually. Over the same time, declassification of documents has slowed to a trickle. """ ---cut--- http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11700805/ White House steps up effort to halt flow of secrets By Edward Alden in Washington Financial Times Updated: 9:12 p.m. ET March 6, 2006 The administration of President George W. Bush is mounting an unprecedented effort to crack down on leaks of government secrets, even as it is vastly expanding the range of information deemed too sensitive to share with the public. That twin effort has raised fears that the White House may succeed in shutting off the flow of such information by threatening to jail those who leak secrets and those who receive them. The issue has come to a head in the government's efforts to prosecute two pro-Israeli lobbyists for receiving classified information from a Pentagon official. Larry Franklin, the official, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in January, and the lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are to go on trial next month. Many see the case, which relies on a novel interpretation of a 90-year-old espionage law, as a test of whether the administration can exercise new powers to shut off leaks that have been severely embarrassing to the White House. In particular, the Justice Department is aggressively trying to identify the sources for two explosive news stories: the existence of secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons in eastern Europe, and the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programme. The Washington Post reported at the weekend that dozens of officials from both agencies had been questioned recently by the FBI in the leak investigations. "When you have more and more information being classified, and more and more secrets being kept, the only way reporters can get information is when internal whistleblowers provide it. And that drives this administration crazy," says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Since the September 11 attacks, the administration has vastly expanded the range of information deemed secret, ranging from the serious such as the NSA spying programme to the seemingly trivial. It has begun withholding, for instance, the names and telephone numbers of many government officials, making it more difficult for reporters and others to track down knowledgeable sources. In the first four years of the administration, the volume of classified documents barred from public distribution nearly doubled to close to 16m annually. Over the same time, declassification of documents has slowed to a trickle. Porter Goss, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, warned in a Senate hearing last month that leaks had caused "severe damage" to his agency. "It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation, with reporters present, being asked to reveal who is leaking this information," he said. That threat is the main reason the prosecution of Mr Rosen and Mr Weissman has caused such concern. The two are accused of discussing with Mr Franklin a classified draft memorandum regarding US policy towards Iran. In a court memorandum filed in support of the lobbyists, a former Justice Department official, Viet Dinh chief architect of the Patriot Act argued that the prosecution would have a chilling effect on debate over national security issues. "Until now, no administration has attempted to address what it may perceive as annoying or premature 'leaks' by criminalising the receipt and use of unsolicited oral information obtained as part of the lobbying or reporting process," he wrote. The government's effort, he said, would in effect "create some type of official secrets act through the prosecution of a test case against two individuals who were engaged in a practice that defines foreign policy lobbying the sharing of information in which lobbyists and members of the press engage every day." The US has long resisted adopting a British-style Official Secrets Act. But support for the idea is growing. In 2000, President Bill Clinton vetoed legislation passed by the Republican Congress that would have criminalised unauthorised leaks of classified information, though even that bill would not have made the receipt of such information a crime. The Republican chairmen of both the Senate and House intelligence committees have said recently they might make another effort to pass such legislation. Critics say the obsession with leaks is absurd because top White House officials have been at the forefront of leaking the most sensitive classified information. For instance, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney who faces perjury charges in the Valerie Plame case, has said in his defence that Mr Cheney authorised him to discuss with some reporters the CIA's classified 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's weapons programmes in the run-up to the Iraq war. Newspaper stories based on the false claims in the NIE that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons, and was developing nuclear arms, helped build US public support for invading Iraq. In a television interview last month, Mr Cheney said he had the power to declassify such information, citing an executive order signed by the president. This is precisely why the system for classifying secrets is open to abuse, according to Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, which presses for declassification of information. "The fact is that most of the leaks that take place are coming from very high-ranking officials, up to and including the president." The crackdown on leaks, he said, was a result of White House anger that mid-level officials were "in open revolt" against policies. "The top officials can't tell the real secrets from the embarrassments, and they are reacting to the embarrassments," he said. "It destroys the credibility we need to maintain the real secrets." Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. --end-cut---