FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
AG
(202) 514-2008
TDD (202) 514-1888
STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT
REGARDING THE DECISION ISSUED IN
CENTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES V. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE:
“Today’s ruling is a victory for the Justice Department’s careful measures to safeguard sensitive information about our terrorism investigations as well as the privacy of individuals who chose not to make public their connection to the government's probe. The Justice Department is working diligently to prevent another catastrophic attack on America. We are pleased the court agreed we should not give terrorists a virtual roadmap to our investigation that could allow terrorists to chart a potentially deadly detour around our efforts.”
In approving the government’s lawful, measured steps in the war on terrorism, the court wrote, “America faces an enemy just as real as its former Cold War foes, with capabilities beyond the capacity of the judiciary to explore.... we hold that the government’s expectation that disclosure of the detainees’ names would enable al Qaeda or other terrorist groups to map the course of the investigation and thus develop the means to impede it is reasonable. A complete list of names informing terrorists of every suspect detained by the government at any point during the September 11 investigation would give terrorist organizations a composite picture of the government investigation, and since these organizations would generally know the activities and locations of its members on or about September 11, disclosure would inform terrorists of both the substantive and geographic focus of the investigation. Moreover, disclosure would inform terrorists which of their members were compromised by the investigation, and which were not. This information could allow terrorists to better evade the ongoing investigation and more easily formulate or revise counter-efforts.”
The court continued, “Knowing when and where each individual was arrested would provide a chronological and geographical picture of the government investigation. Terrorists could learn from this information not only where the government focused its investigation but how that investigation progressed step by step. Armed with that knowledge, they could then reach such conclusions as, for example, which cells had been compromised, and which individuals had been cooperative with the United States. They might well be able to derive conclusions as to how more adequately secure their clandestine operations in future terrorist undertakings.”
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