[Intelforum] Secrecy News -- 02/27/09

Fri Feb 27 12:47:35 EST 2009

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2009, Issue No. 20
February 27, 2009

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Support Secrecy News
http://www.fas.org/sgp/donate.html

**	COURT FAVORS ATTORNEY'S RIGHT TO CLASSIFIED INFO
**	FOCUS ON FUSION CENTERS
**	VARIOUS ITEMS
**	PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS, AND MORE FROM CRS

COURT FAVORS ATTORNEY'S RIGHT TO CLASSIFIED INFO

A federal court this week said that litigants have a First Amendment right
to provide classified information to their attorneys when doing so is
necessary to protect their interests.  The ruling is implicitly at odds
with a common government practice of denying attorneys access to
classified information in Freedom of Information Act cases,
pre-publication review disputes, and other matters.

There is a "First Amendment right to share [classified] information with
an attorney when such sharing is necessary for an attorney to advise his
client of his rights," wrote Judge Gladys Kessler of the DC District
Court.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by former Defense Intelligence Agency
employee Anthony Shaffer against the DIA in connection with the
controversial intelligence program known as Able Danger.  DIA sought to
bar Shaffer from providing classified information about the program to his
attorney, Mark S. Zaid, even though he holds a security clearance.  Mr.
Zaid challenged the denial, and the court found merit in his complaint.

"Without knowing all that his client, and the Defendants, know, Plaintiff
Shaffer's counsel cannot be prepared to adequately represent his client's
interests," Judge Kessler concluded.

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/shaffer.pdf

Executive branch agencies have frequently barred attorneys from access to
classified information in civil litigation, effectively driving a wedge
between the litigant and his counsel, particularly in disputes involving
prepublication review of manuscripts that are said to contain classified
information.  "I have faced this issue numerous times," Mr. Zaid said.

The new ruling may make it harder to continue that practice.

FOCUS ON FUSION CENTERS

The Department of Homeland Security has produced a new "Concept of
Operations" to define how the Department will support and oversee the
network of dozens of "fusion centers" that have been established around
the country.  The fusion centers are intended to promote a collaborative
approach among federal, state and local authorities to combating terrorism
and criminal activity.

Preparation of the new DHS Concept of Operations was required by the "9/11
Commission Recommendations Act of 2007."  The document has not been
formally released, but a copy was obtained by Secrecy News.  See
"Interaction with State and Local Fusion Centers: Concept of Operations,"
December 2008.

	http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dhs/conops.pdf

The Concept of Operations is programmatic rather than descriptive.  It
explains the intended operation of the fusion center system, not how (or
whether) it works in practice-- a topic on which there are conflicting
views.

"Despite their lofty claims, federal officials are misleading you if they
have caused you to believe that fusion centers are actually 'fusing' any
data, that interdepartmental systems in DOJ, DHS, or DOD are integrating
anything but inconsequential records, or that nationwide networks like
N-DEX and HSDN are systematically transporting data that is being used by
state and local police departments," said former U.S. Attorney John McKay
at a September 24, 2008 hearing.  "If you accept these assertions at face
value, you will be misinformed."

>From another perspective, there is "not enough terrorism" to justify the
creation and maintenance of the fusion center system. "There is, more
often than not, insufficient purely 'terrorist' activity to support a
multi-jurisdictional and multi-governmental level fusion center that
exclusively processes terrorist activity," according to Sacramento police
officer Milton Nenneman.  ("Fusion Centers Face 'Insufficient' Terrorist
Activity," Secrecy News, June 3, 2008).

Others take a more favorable view.  "I would say that fusion centers have
emerged as what may be the most significant change in the structural
landscape of criminal intelligence in at least the past 25 years," said
Russell M. Porter, director of the Iowa State fusion center.

Some of these issues were addressed in a recently published Senate hearing
record.  See "Focus on Fusion Centers: A Progress Report," hearing before
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, April 17,
2008.

	http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_hr/fusion.html

The most widely shared official view seems to be that fusion centers offer
significant advantages, especially to law enforcement agencies, but that
they are still far from fulfilling their potential or optimizing their
utility.

A similar view was expressed recently by the DHS Office of Inspector
General in "DHS' Role in State and Local Fusion Centers is Evolving,"
December 10, 2008.

	http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dhs/ig-fusion.pdf

The ACLU discussed its view of "What's Wrong with Fusion Centers" in
December 2007 (with a July 2008 update):

	http://www.aclu.org/privacy/gen/32966pub20071205.html

The Electronic Privacy Information Center provides related background,
resources and critical commentary here:

	http://epic.org/privacy/fusion/

VARIOUS ITEMS

The release of President Obama's first Presidential Policy Directive on
"Organization of the National Security System" was reported by Karen
DeYoung in the Washington Post and Josh Gerstein in Politico.  Those
stories and the new directive are linked here:

	http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/ppd/index.html

"Secretary of Defense Robert Gates lifted a blanket ban on news media
coverage of the honor guard ceremonies that mark the return of military
casualties from abroad," the National Security Archive noted.

	http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090226/index.htm

The unreleased Bush Administration documents that are most coveted by
reporters, civil libertarians, and others are discussed in "Opening the
Files on Bush's Secrets" by Jon Wiener in The Nation, March 16, 2009.

	http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090316/wiener

A new Army Field Manual on "Electronic Warfare in Operations" has been
issued as part of "an overall effort by the Army to rebuild its internal
Electronic Warfare capability."  It also serves as a useful primer on the
subject.  The new Field Manual, FM 3-36, has been approved for
unrestricted release.

	http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-36.pdf

A new trial date has been set in the "AIPAC Case," in which two former
employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are charged with
improperly receiving and transmitting classified national defense
information.  The new date is  May 27, 2009.

PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS, AND MORE FROM CRS

Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service
that have not been made readily available to the public include the
following.

"Presidential Records: Issues for the 111th Congress," February 17, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R40238.pdf

"F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program: Background, Status,
and Issues," updated February 17, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30563.pdf

"Strategic Arms Control After START: Issues and Options," updated February
12, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R40084.pdf

"Herring v. United States: Extension of the Good-Faith Exception to the
Exclusionary Rule in Fourth Amendment Cases," February 2, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40189.pdf

"U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and
Restructuring," January 30, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40003.pdf

"India-U.S. Relations," updated January 30, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33529.pdf

"Compulsory DNA Collection: A Fourth Amendment Analysis," updated January
23, 2009:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40077.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