Just because it is made public doesn't mean it's declassified

[Alfred Qaeda]

                             M.I.T. Physicist Says Pentagon Is
                             Trying to Silence Him
                             by James Dao

                             WASHINGTON - A leading critic of the
military's missile defense testing
                             program has accused the Pentagon of trying
to silence him and
                             intimidate his employer, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, by
                             investigating him for disseminating
classified documents.

                             The case has raised questions about whether
a document can be
                             considered secret if it is widely available
to the public. And it has
                             touched off a dispute between the critic,
Theodore A. Postol, and M.I.T.
                             over how to balance academic freedom with
the university's obligations
                             to cooperate with Pentagon investigators.

                             At issue is correspondence between Dr.
Postol, a
                             physicist, and the General Accounting
Office, an
                             investigative branch of Congress, in which
he
                             accused the Pentagon of using doctored data
to
                             defend missile defense technology.

                             Dr. Postol said his conclusions had been
based on
                             an unclassified report, which he
disseminated over
                             the Internet and can now be downloaded from
Web
                             sites around the world, including one in
Russia.

                             But after Dr. Postol began distributing the
report
                             last year, the Pentagon determined that it
contained
                             secret information. This month, Defense
                             Department investigators asked M.I.T.
officials to
                             stop Dr. Postol from disseminating that
information
                             and to confiscate the document from him.

                             The university has not done so. But in an
e-mail message to Dr. Postol
                             on Monday, Charles M. Vest, the university
president, said M.I.T. might
                             be required to ``move forward with at least
the initial steps'' ordered by
                             Defense Security Service, a Pentagon
agency. Dr. Postol provided a
                             copy of that message to The New York Times.

                             ``They are basically threatening M.I.T.
that it will lose its contract to run
                             this big laboratory if they don't abide by
these demands,'' Dr. Postol said
                             in an interview.

                             The institute operates the Lincoln
Laboratory at Hanscom Air Force Base
                             in Lexington, Mass., under contract with
the Defense Department to do
                             research into missile defense, weather
forecasting, military surveillance
                             and other sophisticated technologies. The
lab's contract with the
                             Pentagon was worth $319 million last year.

                             M.I.T. officials declined to speculate
today on whether Dr. Vest would
                             cooperate with the Pentagon's requests. But
Dr. Vest issued a written
                             statement that raised questions about the
investigation of Dr. Postol.

                             ``While M.I.T. certainly abides by the laws
that protect national security,
                             we also believe that the legitimate tools
of classification of secrets should
                             not be misused to limit responsible
debate,'' the statement said. ``Trying
                             to treat widely available public
information as `secret' is a particular
                             concern.''

                             Pentagon officials declined to discuss
details of their investigation. But
                             Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the
Ballistic Missile Defense
                             Organization, argued that the department
was obligated to stop Dr. Postol
                             from disseminating potentially damaging
information, even if it was
                             readily available.

                             ``Just because it is made public doesn't
mean it's declassified,'' Colonel
                             Lehner said.

                             Dr. Postol agreed that the information was
potentially damaging, but only
                             because it showed that the Pentagon was far
from developing effective
                             antimissile weapons.

                             For years, Dr. Postol has argued that the
Pentagon's prototype
                             antimissile system could not distinguish
between decoys and enemy
                             warheads. He has joined forces with an
engineer, Nira Schwartz, who
                             has accused her former employer, TRW, a
military contractor, of faking
                             tests and evaluations of the technology to
make it appear more
                             successful than it was.

                             The latest dispute arose when the Pentagon
hired five scientists,
                             including two from M.I.T.'s Lincoln
Laboratory, to review TRW's
                             technology in the wake of Dr. Schwartz's
accusations. The resulting
                             report disputed Dr. Schwartz's assertions
and has been used to defend
                             the missile defense program on Capitol
Hill.

                             But Dr. Postol, who in the 1990's
successfully challenged the
                             effectiveness of Patriot missiles in the
Persian Gulf war, analyzed the
                             report and concluded it had distorted data
to make it appear that
                             available technology could reliably
distinguish warheads from decoys. In
                             fact, Dr. Postol contends, that technology
does not yet exist.

                             The Pentagon and TRW have denied that
assertion.

                             Dr. Postol first raised concerns about the
Pentagon report in a letter to
                             the White House last year. Not long after,
the Pentagon determined that
                             officials had inadvertently not removed
classified information from the
                             report before releasing it, including the
tables and diagrams Dr. Postol
                             has used to attack the testing program.

                             But Dr. Postol, who has done work for the
Pentagon and stands to lose
                             his security clearance, contends that the
Pentagon's actions smack of a
                             cover-up. He has recruited supporters in
Congress. Representative
                             Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking
Democrat on the House
                             Committee on Government Reform, has asked
the Pentagon to review
                             Dr. Postol's accusations about the report.
Representative Edward J.
                             Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has asked
the General Accounting
                             Office to study the Defense Department's
classification policy.

                             ``The question that naturally arises is
whether such a policy really
                             protects national security or whether it
merely serves to stifle the ability
                             of Dr. Postol to communicate his views,''
Mr. Markey asks in a letter sent
                             to the accounting office today.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0727-02.htm from NYTimes