FAS | Intelligence | News | 2006 ||

April 2006 Intelligence News

• Letters to Congress from former NSA employee Russell D. Tice, seeking an opportunity to report illegal conduct in a highly classified intelligence special access program. (See also this NSA letter to Tice, warning against unauthorized disclosures).
• CIA tightens limits on former employees' ability to speak out by Shane Harris, National Journal, April 28. "The CIA has imposed new and tighter restrictions on the books, articles, and opinion pieces published by former employees who are still contractors with the intelligence agency."
• Some Archives Files Wrongly Kept Secret by Christopher Lee, Washington Post, April 27. "The CIA and other agencies wrongly kept secret about a third of the records they pulled from public shelves at the National Archives during reclassification efforts that were far more extensive than previously disclosed, according to an audit released yesterday."
• Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 5020, Intel Authorization Act of FY 2007, sent to the House, April 26. "The Administration supports House passage of H.R. 5020. However, the Administration has a few concerns outlined below."
• Congress cracking down on U.S. leaks by Siobhan Gorman, Baltimore Sun, April 25. "Amid intense debate over how far the government can go to keep its secrets secret, Congress is taking up an expansive intelligence measure that proposes tougher steps in cracking down on leaks of classified information and authorizes broad arrest powers for security officers at intelligence agencies."
• FBI Rebuffed on Reporter's Files by Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, April 19. "The family of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson yesterday rejected a request by the FBI to turn over 50 years of files to agents who want to look for evidence in the prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists, as well as any classified documents Anderson had collected."
• Dead Journalist's Archives Sought In U.S. Spy Case by Eli Lake, New York Sun, April 19. "The FBI is requesting the archives of a dead journalist to use as evidence in next month's trial of two former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee."
• Late Journalist's Family Resists FBI Request for His Documents by Nick Timiraos, Los Angeles Times, April 19. "Jack Anderson turned up plenty of government secrets during his half-century career as an investigative reporter, and his family had hoped to make his papers available to the public after his death in December � but the government wants to see, and possibly confiscate, them first."
• Leak Flap Seen Aiding Lobbyists' Case by Marc Perelman, Forward, April 14. "Allegations that President Bush authorized the leaking of controversial data on Iraqi weapons could bolster the defense of the two former staffers of the pro-Israel lobby charged with receiving and disclosing classified national defense information, legal experts said."
• Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says by Murray Waas, National Journal, April 14. "There is a growing body of information showing that at the time Plame was outed the vice president was deeply involved in the effort to undermine her husband."
• Who Decides to Declassify Government Documents?, NPR Talk of the Nation, April 13. "Who decides what should be kept 'top secret'? And does classifying information protect national security -- or politicians? with guests Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, and Richard Kerr, deputy director of the CIA, 1989 to 1992."
• White House defends right to declassify by Siobhan Gorman, Baltimore Sun, April 8. "The White House sidestepped allegations yesterday that President Bush single-handedly declassified an intelligence report, while steadfastly maintaining that he has the power to do so."
• Libby testimony shows a White House pattern of intelligence leaks by Warren P. Strobel and Ron Hutcheson, Knight Ridder Newspapers, April 7. "The revelation that President Bush authorized former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to divulge classified information about Iraq fits a pattern of selective leaks of secret intelligence to further the administration's political agenda."
• Questions raised on president's role by Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe, April 7. "The news that President Bush allegedly authorized the leak of a classified report on Iraqi weapons in 2003 underscores the administration's eagerness to build a case against Saddam Hussein, and buttresses the contention that many media leaks come from official sources, not whistle-blowers."
• Bush role alleged in leak of Iraq intelligence by James Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle, April 7. "Detailed evidence has emerged for the first time suggesting that President Bush played a direct role in authorizing a selective, surreptitious leak of information from a highly classified national security document to rebut critics of the war in Iraq."
• Judge Calls Speech Rights Central to Espionage Case by Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times, April 2. "Federal prosecutors, trumpeting the indictment last year of two pro-Israel lobbyists who allegedly obtained U.S. defense secrets from a former Pentagon analyst, said the men had crossed a 'clear line in the law.' But that line is turning out to be not so clear, and the government's high-profile case might be unraveling."