At 04:43 PM 10/13/00 -0400, George@orwellian.org wrote:

http://foxnews.com/national/101300/leaks.sml

Congress Increases Penalty for Classified Leaks

Friday, October 13, 2000

An intelligence bill passed by Congress could stifle the ability of whistle-blowers and the media to get information to the public by expanding criminal penalties for government employees leaking secrets. [snip]

David Lesher forwarded the following to Cyberia-L SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy October 13, 2000 ** CONGRESS ADOPTS OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT CONGRESS ADOPTS OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT Congress yesterday approved the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001, including a provision that criminalizes the disclosure of any information that the executive branch says is properly classified. It is a breathtaking removal of checks and balances on the executive branch, and an undeserved endorsement of the highly arbitrary national security classification system. It is part of the worst intelligence bill ever legislated, adopted by one of the worst congresses in the country's history. "This provision marks the first time that Congress has placed the full force of criminal law behind the executive branch's classification system," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi on the House floor yesterday. "This ... will create, make no mistake about it, with not one day of hearings, without one moment of public debate, without one witness, an official secrets act," said Rep. Bob Barr. "For those who do not know what an official secrets act is, it is something that we have never had in this country. It has been broached many times, particularly in the Cold War era. But our regard for constitutional civil liberties, our regard for the first amendment ... has in every case in which an effort has been made to enact an official secrets act beaten back those efforts." Until now. Yesterday's House floor debate on the Intelligence Authorization Act is posted here: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_cr/h101200.html _________________ Steven Aftergood Project on Government Secrecy Federation of American Scientists http://www.fas.org/sgp/index.html Email: saftergood@igc.org ------ End of forwarded message ------- Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639