Secrecy News -- 01/13/03 (IF)

Mon Jan 13 12:33:21 EST 2003

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2003, Issue No. 4
January 13, 2003

**	CIA FACES BUDGET CRUNCH
**	WIDER INTELLIGENCE SHARING SOUGHT
**	NEW LEGISLATIVE ACTION
**	JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY FILES
**	RADIOACTIVE IN NEW YORK

CIA FACES BUDGET CRUNCH

Billions of dollars of funds for the Central Intelligence Agency
and other intelligence agencies have been held up at least
temporarily because they are embedded in Defense Department funds
that are the subject of an unrelated accounting dispute between
Congress and the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported
today.

The manner in which CIA appropriations are concealed within the
Defense Department budget is considered a classified "intelligence
method" that must be protected at all costs.

"The Central Intelligence Agency in the coming months faces a cash
crunch aggravated by a White House decision to finance a portion of
the agency's budget through a special $10 billion contingency
reserve for military and intelligence activities," wrote David
Rogers in the Wall Street Journal ("Budget Cap Risks Cash Crunch
for Sensitive Operations at CIA," 01/13/03, p. A4, not available
online).

In order to relieve pressure on intelligence spending, the House of
Representatives last week approved a measure authorizing the
Secretary of Defense to transfer up to 2.5 billion dollars for
intelligence and special operations programs that are part of the
global war on terrorism.

See "Making Further Continuing Appropriations, Fiscal Year 2003"
(section 5):

      http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/h010803.html

WIDER INTELLIGENCE SHARING SOUGHT

Pressure to share U.S. intelligence information is growing, due to
threats to commercial transportation systems that are used to
support the mobilization of U.S. military forces, as well as
weapons inspectors' indeterminate search for weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, among other factors.

"New steps to share secret intelligence warnings with the private
freight and passenger sector -- including a password-protected Web
site -- are being been put in place" at the United States
Transportation Command, according to a New York Times story today.

Gen. John W. Handy, the head of Transportation Command, told the
Times that even classified reports from the American intelligence
community must be made available -- at least in a sanitized form --
to the private sector.

Part of his job, he said, is to make that happen quickly. "Our
request at my level is to keep pressing to share as much as we
possibly can," General Handy told the New York Times.

"One wonders how this sanitization is carried out expeditiously,"
observed Allen Thomson, a former CIA analyst.  "Much of the
intelligence probably carries CIA and NSA ORCON [originator
controlled] restrictions, and the ORCs are not famous for quickly
agreeing to let their material go-- sometimes justifiably, often
not."

See "Officials Reveal Threat to Troops Deploying to Gulf" by Thom
Shanker, New York Times, January 13:

      http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/13/politics/13INTE.html

Meanwhile, Senator Carl Levin argued that the United States must
support the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq by providing
intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs.

"We must share all the information we can on suspect sites," Sen.
Levin said on January 9.  "If we don't share our information with
the U.N. inspectors, or if we prejudge the outcome of these
inspections, we will increase the likelihood that we will go to war
and increase the risks, short term and long term, to our troops and
our Nation."  See:

      http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s010903.html

NEW LEGISLATIVE ACTION

Senate Democrats led by Sen. Tom Daschle introduced a wide-ranging
bill last week that would, among many other things, provide a
legislative foundation for the military tribunals that the Bush
Administration established unilaterally to try al Qaeda suspects.
The bill also address FBI whistleblower protections and other
security policy matters.

See the introduction of the bill, entitled the "Justice Enhancement
and Domestic Security Act of 2003" (S. 22), here:

      http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s22.html

Senator Kyl introduced a formal amendment to one definition in the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act here:

      http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s123.html

"We all say that we're for 'good government,' for openness,
integrity, and accountability," said Sen. Joe Lieberman last week,
introducing a series of amendments to last year's Homeland Security
Act.

"So why should the Department of Homeland Security be allowed to
exempt its advisory committees from ... requirements [of the
Federal Advisory Committee Act]? Why should its advisory committees
be allowed to meet in total secret with no public knowledge?"

The package of amendments offered by Senator Lieberman, who
announced his candidacy for the 2004 Democratic Presidential
nomination today, would rescind the secrecy exemption for Homeland
Security advisory committees.  The amendments would leave the
Department's widely criticized Freedom of Information Act exemption
unaffected, however.

See Senator Lieberman's January 7 introduction of his proposed
amendments here:

      http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2003/s010703.html

JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY FILES

An alphabetical list of historical record groups related to Japanese
Imperial Army war crimes from World War II compiled for the
Interagency Working Group on Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial
Government Records and transferred to the National Archives may be
found here (thanks to MJR):

      http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/japan-imp-records.htm

RADIOACTIVE IN NEW YORK

A New York man with Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder, set off
radiation alarms in Manhattan subway stations after he was treated
with radioactive iodine, according to a recent note in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.  The man was strip-searched by
police who were on the alert for nuclear-armed terrorists.

"This patient's experience indicates that radiation detection
devices are being installed in public places in New York City and
perhaps elsewhere. Patients who have been treated with radioactive
iodine or other isotopes may be identified and interrogated by the
police because of the radiation they emit."

See "Police Detainment of a Patient Following Treatment With
Radioactive Iodine" in the December 4, 2002, issue of JAMA here
(thanks to AT):

  http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v288n21/ffull/jlt1204-3.html

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by
the Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood at fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691

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