The Information Security Oversight Office found that for 2011 the number of government records declassified had declined from the previous year. The review process is under study and holds promise for improving declassification. -db From Secrecy News, May 29, 2012 by Steven Aftergood. Full story
Attorneys for Pfc. Bradley Manning, charged with espionage for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, are charging that the federal prosecutors are withholding documents needed for a defense. Manning’s attorneys say that they have been frustrated in their attempts to gain access to official “damage assessments” that provide details on the actual damages of the leaks to national security. -db From the Courthouse News Service, April 23, 2012, by Adam Klasfeld. Full story
Data showing responses to federal Freedom of Information Act requests indicate that the Federal Communications Commission is the most secretive government agency, even outdoing the Central Intelligence Agency. The FCC is rejecting FOIA requests at the rate of 48 percent dwarfing all other government agencies. The CIA by contrast rejects requests at the rate of 0.7 percent. -db From The Daily Caller, March 21, 2012, by Josh Peterson. Full story
National Security Agency chief General Keith Alexander denied in a House subcommittee hearing that his agency spied on Americans without a court order. That denial runs counter to statements by former NSA employees who worked on the agency’s domestic spying infrastructure says James Bamford in a commentary in Wired. From a commentary in Wired, March 21, 2012, by James Bamford. Full story
After it came to light that secret legal memos existed backing a “targeted killing” policy, the Obama administration blocked the release of the memos. Writing for the Citizens Media Law Project, Justin Silverman makes a case for transparency particularly in the case that the government is hiding an important policy rationale behind a secrecy shield. -db From a commentary for the Citizens Media Law Project, February 21, 2012, by Justin Silverman. Full story