Secrecy News -- 04/30/04 (IF)

Fri Apr 30 14:17:36 EDT 2004

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2004, Issue No. 41
April 30, 2004

**	THE MYSTERY OF THE COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY
**	SOME MORE NEW CRS PRODUCTS
**	DECLASSIFICATION OF CLARKE TESTIMONY SOUGHT
**	THE GORELICK FILES
**	REVOKING SECURITY CLEARANCES OF FELONS
**	ESTABLISHING THE IRAQI NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

THE MYSTERY OF THE COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY

The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is the entity led
by Amb. Paul Bremer that is responsible for managing and
overseeing the reconstruction of Iraq.

But what species of organization is the CPA?  And how exactly
was it established?  These are mysteries.

"It is unclear whether CPA is a federal agency," according to
a new report from the Congressional Research Service that is
the bureaucratic equivalent of a "thriller."

"No explicit, unambiguous, and authoritative statement has
been provided that declares how the authority was
established, under what authority, and by whom."

Clarification of the CPA's nature and status "will remain
relevant even after CPA's scheduled dissolution on June 30,
2004, for questions may remain about what it did, how it
spent money, and what it accomplished."

The new CRS report probes the matter in wonkish depth over 38
pages later but without a clear resolution.  A copy of the
report was obtained by Secrecy News.

See "The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA): Origin,
Characteristics, and Institutional Authorities" by L. Elaine
Halchin, Congressional Research Service, April 29, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32370.pdf

SOME MORE NEW CRS PRODUCTS

Numerous new and newly updated Congressional Research Service
reports have been issued in recent days and weeks.  Some of
these include the following:

"Presidential Advisers' Testimony Before Congressional
Committees: A Brief Overview," updated April 14, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31351.pdf

"Homeland Security: The Presidential Coordination Office,"
updated March 30, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL31148.pdf

"Homeland Security:  Department Organization and Management
-- Implementation Phase," updated April 28, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL31751.pdf

"Globalizing Cooperative Threat Reduction: A Survey of
Options," April 15, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/crs/RL32359.pdf

"Disarming Libya: Weapons of Mass Destruction," April 22,
2004:

      http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/crs/RS21823.pdf

"Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and
Policy," updated April 15, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/man/crs/98-916.pdf

"NATO and the European Union," April 6, 2004:

      http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32342.pdf

Direct public access to CRS reports like these is not
authorized, and is in fact discouraged, by the U.S.
Congress.

DECLASSIFICATION OF CLARKE TESTIMONY SOUGHT

Classification policy continues to serve as a surrogate
battlefield for disputes over the Iraq war, September 11,
and related issues.

In an April 28 letter, House Democrats asked Speaker of the
House Dennis Hastert to expedite the declassification of
testimony presented in 2002 by then-counterterrorism adviser
Richard Clarke.  (Strictly speaking, the Speaker does not
have the authority to perform such declassification.)  See
their letter here:

      http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2004_cr/h042804.pdf

Likewise, Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) this week proposed to
introduce an amendment expressing the sense of the Senate
that the Clarke testimony should be declassified, though it
was not introduced in the end due to procedural obstacles.
See the text here:

      http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2004_cr/sa3074.html

THE GORELICK FILES

The Justice Department on Wednesday declassified and posted
on the web more documents pertaining to former Deputy
Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, currently a member of the
9/11 Commission, and her role in implementing the legal
"wall" that distinguished intelligence and law enforcement
information.

The Justice Department was responding -- with uncommon
alacrity -- to a request from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for release of such records.
They had requested declassification of the documents a mere
two days earlier.

Unexpectedly, the Justice move drew a rebuke from the White
House.

"I think [the President is] disappointed that that
information was placed on their Web site like that," said
White House spokesman Scott McClellan.  "We were not
involved in that."

A copy of the newly declassified documents, which remain on
the Justice Department web site despite the White House
expression of disappointment, is here (29 pages, 1.5 MB PDF
file):

      http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/1995_wall.pdf

The April 28 remarks of Sen. Cornyn regarding the documents
and his view of Ms. Gorelick may be found here:

    http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2004_cr/s042804b.html

REVOKING SECURITY CLEARANCES OF FELONS

A statute known as the Smith Amendment, enacted in October
2000, prohibits the Defense Department from granting or
renewing a security clearance for anyone who has been
convicted of a felony and sentenced to a year or more in
jail.

Since the measure was adopted, "hundreds of people, many of
whom who have had clearances for 20 or 30 years, have had
their security clearances revoked," notes Sheldon I. Cohen,
a specialist in security clearance policy.

This is not entirely good news, Cohen argues, because in
practice the new policy does not allow sufficient leeway for
special circumstances or the passage of time, and so it
excludes persons who need not or should not be excluded from
the personnel security clearance system.

The Defense Department was supposed to report to Congress
last January on the implementation of the policy, but has
still failed to do so.

"Hopefully," suggests Cohen, "when the Department of Defense
does file its assessment report, the adverse effect of the
Smith Amendment on the national defense will become so
obvious it will be repealed."

See "Smith Amendment Update" by Sheldon I. Cohen, May 2004,
here:

      http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/smithamend2.pdf

ESTABLISHING THE IRAQI NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), whatever its
provenance and powers may be, authorized the Iraqi Governing
Council earlier this month to establish a new Iraqi
intelligence service.

The function of the new Iraqi National Intelligence Service
(INIS) is "to collect, analyze, and disseminate accurate and
timely information related to the national defense and other
threats to the security of Iraq."

"The INIS will be a wholly distinct and separate entity from
any intelligence services that have previously existed in
Iraq," according to CPA Order 69, issued in April 2004.

The Charter of the new Iraqi National Intelligence Service
(INIS) may be found here (9 pages, 700 KB PDF file):

      http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/inis.pdf

_______________________________________________
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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