11/07/00
By SEAN REILLY
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby is accusing President Clinton of buckling to media pressure with his veto of a bill that would have criminalized the disclosure of most classified information.

"After eight years of subordinating the national security to political concerns, the Clinton-Gore administration is going out on a similar note, overruling its national security experts and vetoing legislation to deter and punish leakers," Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said in a prepared statement.

The statement came in response to Clinton's decision Saturday to veto the fiscal 2001 Intelligence Authorization Act. The measure contained a provision championed by Shelby that would have made the unauthorized release of all "properly classified" information a felo ny punishable by up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Shelby had said the tougher restrictions were needed to stem a flood of leaks to the news media. Press organiza tions and civil libertarians had objected that his approach would stifle whistleblowers and harm legitimate news-gath ering activities. Unauthorized release of some categories of classified information, such as national defense secrets, is already against the law.

After supporting the legislation when it passed Congress last month, the White House began to get second thoughts as protests snowballed. Besides numerous newspapers and media organizations, critics also included some GOP members of Congress, such as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois, who complained that the restrictions had been approved with no public hearings.

"This goes to the very nature of our democracy," said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. "He (Shelby) wanted to give the Executive Branch the power to decide what information the public should know and to criminalize anyone who disagreed."

Although Congress could revisit the subject in a lame-duck session later this month, Aftergood said that bi-partisan opposition and lack of time for public hearings mean that the issue is probably dead for this year. Shelby spokesman Andrea Andrews said he is "reviewing his options" with other members of the Intelligence Committee.