Author asserts right to publish uncensored memoir on his career in DIA

A former agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) filed a complaint with the federal government contesting the censorship of his memoir, saying that he only used unclassified documents in writing the book. -db Courthouse News Service December 20, 2010 By Ryan Abbott WASHINGTON (CN) – Longtime DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) officer Anthony Shaffer claims [...]

Federal judge orders CIA to produce records of government experiments on soldiers 1950-1975

Three veteran groups and six individual veterans won a judgment in federal court ordering the CIA to produce records about human experiments conducted on soldiers from 1950 to 1975. -db Courthouse News Service November 17, 2010 By Annie Youderian (CN) – A federal magistrate judge in San Francisco ordered the CIA to produce specific records [...]

National Archives challenges CIA on destruction of tapes of brutal interrogations

The National Archives and Records Administration said they plan to investigate whether the CIA’s destruction of tapes showing brutal interrogations of terror suspects constituted improper destruction of federal records. -db NBC News November 10, 2010 By Michael Isikoff The legal inquiries into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes showing the brutal interrogation of terror suspects may [...]

Valerie Plame movie raises issue of imbalance between transparency and secrecy

An ACLU director at the Center for Democracy says that a new film, Fair Game, about Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, illustrates that government secrecy has become the norm and transparency the exception. -db American Civil Liberties Union Commentary Nov 5, 2010 By Jameel Jaffer Which secrets should be kept, and which should be exposed? [...]

WikiLeaks unveils CIA report on U.S. as an ‘exporter of terrorism’

The CIA has downplayed WikiLeaks’ latest release, a secret CIA analysis showing the extent of U.S. presence as an exporter of terrorism. -db Washington Post August 26, 2010 By Ellen Nakashima The United States has long been an exporter of terrorism, according to a secret CIA analysis released Wednesday by the Web site WikiLeaks. And [...]

Domestic spying: Uncle Sam developing ability to reach wide and deep on Internet

Through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that the FBI and CIA are aggressively perfecting their ability to probe social networks and the Internet for intelligence data much of which is outside the law enforcement context. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary August 16, 2010 By Tim Wayne In the [...]

Judge rejects ACLU’s request for information on detainees

A federal judge in New York has decided that he lacks the authority to order the government to disclose information regarding the treatment of Sept. 11 detainees – even if the government’s actions were unlawful. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press July 20, 2010 By Brian Westley “Courts are not invested with the [...]

Attorney General subpoenas New York Times reporter over book on C.I.A.

A lawyer for New York Times reporter James Risen says he will honor his commitment to keep his sources confidential in resisting a subpoena to provide documents about his 2006 book about the Central Intelligency Agency.  -db The New York Times April 28 2010 By Charlie Savage WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration is seeking [...]

CIA admits destroying tapes of abusive interrogations

The Central Intelligence Agency admitted that the agency’s top officials destroyed hundreds of tapes depicting abusive interrogations of suspects. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press April 16,2010 By Miranda Fleschert The Central Intelligence Agency released email messages on Thursday that reveal the former director of the agency approved of — and joked [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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