[Intelforum] Secrecy News -- 02/05/10

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2010, Issue No. 12
February 5, 2010

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


**      LIMITING KNOWLEDGE IN A DEMOCRACY
**      TWITTER IN CONGRESS, AND MORE FROM CRS
**      THE STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE, AND MORE HEARINGS
**      OSC VIEWS DEFENSE WEBSITES IN TAIWAN


LIMITING KNOWLEDGE IN A DEMOCRACY

In testimony this week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director
of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair declared unequivocally that Al
Qaeda would attack the United States within the next six months.  "The
priority is certain, I would say," he told the Committee.

This recalls nothing so much as the startling August 6, 2001 item in the
President's Daily Brief (PDB) that was entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to
Strike in US."

But the 2001 warning to President Bush was classified at the highest
possible level and remained secret for years thereafter, until it was
finally dislodged at the insistence of the 9/11 Commission.  In contrast,
DNI Blair's comparable statement was openly presented and was about as
public as it could be.

Why should that be so?  Clearly the political circumstances for the two
warnings are different, as are the venues in which they were delivered. 
But it is also true that the parameters of official secrecy are subject to
change.  Yesterday's top secret might not even qualify as today's
front-page news.

The boundaries of official secrecy will be examined at a conference at the
New School in New York City on February 24-26 on "Limiting Knowledge in a
Democracy."

	http://socres.org/limitingknowledge/

"There is no question that the free access to knowledge and information
are the bedrock of all democratic societies, yet no democratic society can
function without limits on what can be known, what ought to be kept
confidential and what must remain secret," according to the conference
overview. "The tension among these competing ends is ever present and
continuously raises questions about the legitimacy of limits. What limits
are necessary to safeguard and protect a democratic polity? What limits
undermine it?"

I will be speaking on February 26 on "National Security Secrecy: How the
Limits Change."


TWITTER IN CONGRESS, AND MORE FROM CRS

Some new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not
previously been made available to the public include the following.

"Social Networking and Constituent Communications: Member Use of Twitter
During a Two-Month Period in the 111th Congress," February 3, 2010:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41066.pdf

"Metropolitan Transportation Planning," February 3, 2010:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41068.pdf

"Veterans Health Care: Project HERO Implementation," February 3, 2010:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41065.pdf


THE STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE, AND MORE HEARINGS

Several noteworthy new hearing volumes on national security policy have
recently appeared.  In most cases, the published volumes include valuable
new supplementary material for the record.

"Examining the State Secrets Privilege: Protecting National Security While
Preserving Accountability," Senate Judiciary Committee, February 13, 2008
(published December 2009) (large pdf):

	http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_hr/statesec.pdf

"Coercive Interrogation Techniques: Do They Work, Are They Reliable, and
What Did the FBI Know About Them?", Senate Judiciary Committee, June 10,
2008 (published December 2009) (large pdf):

	http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_hr/coercive.pdf

"Protecting National Security and Civil Liberties: Strategies for
Terrorism Information Sharing," Senate Judiciary Committee, April 21, 2009
(published January 2010):

	http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2009_hr/infoshare.pdf

"Chinese Interrogation vs. Congressional Oversight: The Uighurs at
Guantanamo," House Foreign Affairs Committee, July 16, 2009 (published
December 2009):

	http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2009_hr/uighurs.pdf


OSC VIEWS DEFENSE WEBSITES IN TAIWAN

Websites and blogs dealing with military issues in Taiwan were surveyed in
a recent report from the DNI Open Source Center that has not been publicly
released.  See "Taiwan: Unofficial Military Websites," Open Source Center
Media Aid, January 12, 2010:

	http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/taiwan-mil.pdf



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

The Secrecy News Blog is at:
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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