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DoD Inspector General Tallies Leaks of Classified Intel

In response to a congressional directive, the Department of Defense Inspector General has provided to Congress “an inventory of all identified unauthorized disclosures of SCI [sensitive compartmented...

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Court Says Agency Classification Decision is Not “Logical”

In an opinion published this week, DC District Judge Richard W. Roberts did an astonishing thing that federal courts almost never do:  He probed into the decision to classify a government document and...

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Instead of Ramping Up, Declassification Activity Slowed in 2011

The total number of pages of government records that were reviewed for declassification last year, as well as the number that were actually declassified, declined slightly from the year before,...

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McCain Calls for Special Counsel to Investigate Leaks

Updated below Sen. John McCain asked the Obama Administration to appoint a special counsel to investigate recent leaks of classified information to the news media.  He condemned the disclosure of...

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Not All Leaks of Classified Information Violate the Law

“The unauthorized release of classified information is a crime–it is a crime–because it threatens our national security and puts the lives of those who are sworn to defend our Nation in jeopardy,” said...

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State Secrets Protection Act Introduced in House

A bill “to provide safe, fair, and responsible procedures and standards for resolving claims of state secrets privilege” was introduced in the House of Representatives this week by Rep. Jerrold Nadler...

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Prosecutors Dispute Claims of Selective Anti-Leak Prosecution

Updated below Last month, former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is accused of unlawfully disclosing classified information to two reporters, said in pre-trial motions that he had been wrongly and...

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Fundamental Classification Review Yields Uncertain Results

The executive branch has just completed a two-year review of its classification guidance that was ordered by President Obama as a way to combat overclassification of government information.  The Review...

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Justice Department Defends Use of State Secrets Privilege

“The Government has invoked the state secrets privilege sparingly and appropriately,” the Department of Justice said in a 2011 report to Congress that was released this week. The 8 page report...

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Justice Dept Silent on IG Role in State Secrets Cases

The Department of Justice told Congress recently that it would not disclose the number of state secrets cases involving alleged government misconduct, if any, that have been referred to an Inspector...

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Court Dismisses Case Based on State Secrets Privilege

A federal court yesterday dismissed a lawsuit which alleged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had engaged in unlawful surveillance of Muslim residents of southern California.  The court granted...

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In 1962, JFK Was Urged to Take “Drastic Action” Against Leakers

Fifty years ago, the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) urged President John F. Kennedy to take “drastic action” against whoever had leaked classified intelligence information to a...

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Making Government Information Open and Machine Readable

An executive order issued by President Obama today directs that “the default state of new and modernized Government information resources shall be open and machine readable.” “As one vital benefit of...

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Subpoena of AP Phone Records Said to Damage Press Freedom

The government seizure of Associated Press telephone records in the course of a leak investigation undermined freedom of the press in the United States, congressional critics said yesterday. “It seems...

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Government Monitoring of Journalists, Then and Now

When the Central Intelligence Agency prepared its famous 1973 compilation of dubious and illegal Agency activities known as the “Family Jewels,” it included several instances in which reporters were...

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Secrecy System Shows Signs of Contraction

The creation of new national security secrets dropped sharply in 2012, recently released government data show.  While the proper boundaries of official secrecy remain a matter of intense dispute, the...

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Historians See Crisis in Declassification

Government programs to declassify national security information are not meeting public expectations, the needs of historians, or even the requirements of law, said the State Department’s Historical...

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Insider Threat Policy Equates Leakers, Spies, Terrorists

A national policy on “insider threats” was developed by the Obama Administration in order to protect against actions by government employees who would harm the security of the nation.  But under the...

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Court Eases Prosecutors’ Burden of Proof in Leak Cases

In a new interpretation of the Espionage Act, a federal judge made it easier for prosecutors in leak cases to meet their burden of proof, while reducing protections for accused leakers. Judge Colleen...

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Publishing Secrets is a Crime, OLC Said in 1942

Newspapers can be held criminally liable for publishing secret information, according to a newly disclosed Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion dating from World War II.  A reporter who writes a story...

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