Government lawyer argues torture suit too sensitive for public court

Citing national security and state secrets, a Justice Department lawyer argued that the suit involving the CIA and a San Jose company over extraordinary rendition and torture of suspected terrorists cannot proceed in open court. -DB
San Francisco Chronicle
December 16, 2009
By Bob Egelko
SAN FRANCISCO — A lawsuit accusing a Bay Area flight-planning company of aiding [...]

CIA fears new open government initiative could allow anyone to glean classified information from unclassified documents

Faced with the new open government directive, the Central Intelligence Agency is trying to decide to release online declassified documents and noncopyrighted analyses of foreign news. They fear that information online could be extracted more easily and combined to reveal classified information. -DB
NextGov

December 11, 2009
By Alicia Sternstein
The release of the open government directive could change intelligence [...]

Secrecy News cites two agencies that need to get with the program on new federal transparency

The director of the Program on Government Secrecy says that key government departments are responding to the new open government directive but that two agencies stand out for blocking public access, the CIA and the Open Source Center. -DB

Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
Commentary
December 10, 2009
By Steven Aftergood

The Obama Administration’s new open government policy has begun to [...]

Court rules CIA did not violate Valerie Plame’s rights

The CIA did not violate Valerie Plame’s 1st Amendment rights the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City (2nd Cir.) has ruled. Including dates of service in her memoir including them in her memoir would still violate the secrecy agreement she signed when she joined the CIA.
Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press
New York [...]

Federal Court rejects Plame’s argument to allow her to publicize details of CIA service

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame claimed that after the government outed her as an agent and her employment record became part of the congressional record that the First Amendment allowed her to void her confidentiality agreement with the CIA and reveal details of her CIA service. A federal appeals court rejected her arguments citing national [...]

Federal judge rules CIA cannot be forced to release documents related to destruction of 9/11 interrogation videotapes

The Associated Press
September 30, 2009
By Larry Neumeister

Agreeing with CIA Diretor Leon Panetta, a federal judge said that national security concerns override other issues in upholding the CIA’s right to keep secret their methods of getting information from uncooperative detainees. The American Civil liberties Union is seeking the documents related to interrogations of 9/11 detainees that [...]

National security classification may find reasonable term limits

For the first time, a presidential administration has said that no information may remain classified indefinitely, raising hopes that after no more than 50 years government records would be automatically declassified and intelligence records no more than 75 years from date or origin. -DB
Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
CommentarySeptember 29, 2009
By Steven Aftergood
“No information may remain [...]

Obama to announce new policy on state secrets

The Obama administration is expected to make it harder for the government to invoke a “state secrets” claim when asked about such activities as rendition, wiretaps and treatment of terrorist suspects. -DB
The Washington Post
September 23, 2009
By Carrie Johnson
The Obama administration will announce a new policy Wednesday making it much more difficult for the government [...]

ACLU obtains document detailing CIA torture program

In response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the government turned over documents describing the interrogation techniques used by the CIA as late as 2007. -DB
American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
August 24, 2009
NEW YORK – The government today handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union a detailed official description of the CIA’s interrogation
program.
That document, [...]

CIA retains information declassified for Libby prosecution

The CIA has refused to release information from the President’s Daily Brief that was declassified for the prosecution of former vice presidential aide Scooter Libby in 2006. -DB
Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
Commentary
July 29, 2009
By Steven Aftergood
Even though certain information concerning the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) was redacted and declassified for use in the prosecution of [...]

Justice Department seeking secrecy for Cheney interview in Valerie Plame case

In deciding to make records public of Dick Cheney’s interview with prosecutors in the CIA leak case, a federal judge is seeking to balance the public’s right to know with avoiding making public servants leery of cooperating in future investigations. -DB
Politico
July 21, 2009
By Josh Gerstein
President Barack Obama’s Justice Department is arguing that former Vice President [...]

Foundation sues for records of illegal acts of intelligence agencies

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed suit in federal court to force the CIA and other government agencies to disclose reports on possible violations of the law by intelligence agencies during the Bush administration. -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundation
July 22, 2009
Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit today against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [...]