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Secrecy News laments lack of accountability in denying information

donal brown October 10, 2011

Some argue that if government classifiers were required to justify their classifications with clear, precise written explanation, there would be less information consigned to secrecy, writes Steven Aftergood for Secrecy News. As of now, officials get away with saying “it is secret because it’s secret,” but Aftergood thinks that it is not enough to require explanation, that establishing a review process would do more to achieve greater transparency. -db From a commentary in Secrecy News,

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Federal judge rules for CIA in destruction of interrogation videotapes

donal brown October 10, 2011

The American Civil Liberties Union and allies lost a bid in federal court to find out who was responsible for destroying nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations in 2001 of al Qaeda leaders. The judge noted that the CIA had erred in destroying the videotapes but had since made changes to prevent the destruction of videos in the future. -db From the Courthouse News Service, October 6, 2011, by Adam Klasfeld. Full story

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Drone strikes out in open but still classified and not subject to discussion

donal brown October 10, 2011

When a U.S. drone strike killed a U.S. citizen in Yemen who was a prominent al Qaeda terrorist, President Barack Obama would not acknowledge the obvious – that a drone had done the task or that the C.I.A. was involved. Nor would the Obama administration provide the public with details on the policy behind an execution of an American citizen without due process. -db From a commentary in The New York Times, October 4, 2011,

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Profanity not always protected by First Amendment

donal brown October 10, 2011

A suburban Chicago city recently rescinded a law against profanity in public places out of concern that the law may run afoul of the First Amendment, but says David L. Hudson Jr. of the First Amendment Center, the Constitution does not always protect profanity. The list of unprotected speech includes fighting words, true threats and incitement to violence or other unlawful acts. -db From a commentary for the First Amendment Center, October 6, 2011, by

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