[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 04/05/11
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Net-Gold -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MediaMentor <mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Digital Divide Diversity MLS <mls-digitaldivide@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sean Grigsby <myarchives1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 06:06:17 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 14:50:01 -0400
From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
To: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Secrecy News -- 04/05/11
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SECRECY NEWS
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from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2011, Issue No. 32
April 5, 2011
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Secrecy News Blog:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
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** NEW LEAK PENALTIES PROPOSED IN SENATE INTEL BILL
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NEW LEAK PENALTIES PROPOSED IN SENATE INTEL BILL
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The Senate Intelligence Committee is proposing to punish leaks of classified
information by authorizing intelligence agencies to seize the pension
benefits of current or former employees who are believed to have committed
an unauthorized disclosure of classified information.
The pending proposal would "provide an additional administrative option for
the Intelligence Community to deter leakers who violate the prepublication
review requirements of their non-disclosure agreements," the Committee said
in its new report on the FY2011 Intelligence Authorization Act.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2011_rpt/srpt112-12.pdf
"This option may require individuals to surrender their current and future
federal government pension benefits if they knowingly violate the
prepublication review requirements in their non-disclosure agreements in a
manner that discloses classified information to an unauthorized person or
entity."
But the premises of the new proposal are questionable and it has generated
some controversy even within the Senate Committee itself.
The starting point of the Committee proposal is that leakers are rarely if
ever punished. "A particular source of frustration has been that leakers
are rarely seen to suffer consequences for leaking classified information."
In fact, however, the number of ongoing leak-related prosecutions is
currently at an all-time high.
Secondly, the Committee believes that existing administrative sanctions that
stop short of criminal prosecution -- including "security clearance
revocation, suspension, or termination" -- are inadequate and incomplete
because they cannot reach persons who are no longer government employees.
"Unfortunately, these sanctions are not generally available for use against
a key source of leaks, former Intelligence Community employees." But it is
not at all clear, and the Committee does not attempt to demonstrate, that
former Intelligence Community employees are "a key source of leaks." In
practice, the government already has strong legal authority to enforce
prepublication review requirements, and the CIA is currently engaged in
suing at least one of its former employees ("Ishmael Jones") for an alleged
violation of those requirements.
Perhaps for those reasons and others, the Intelligence Community itself did
not request the pension seizure authority that the Senate Intelligence
Committee now proposes to bestow on it.
But the pending proposal may be worse than unnecessary, said Sen. Ron Wyden
in a dissenting statement attached to the new Intelligence Committee report.
He said it could discourage whistleblowers and impede congressional access
to information.
"My concern is that giving intelligence agency heads the authority to take
away the pensions of individuals who haven't been formally convicted of any
wrongdoing could pose serious problems for the due process rights of
intelligence professionals, and particularly the rights of whistleblowers
who report waste, fraud and abuse to Congress or Inspectors General," Sen.
Wyden wrote.
"It is unfortunately entirely plausible to me that a given intelligence
agency could conclude that a written submission to the congressional
intelligence committees or an agency Inspector General is an 'unauthorized
publication,' and that the whistleblower who submitted it is thereby subject
to punishment under [this provision], especially since there is no explicit
language in the bill that contradicts this conclusion."
"Withholding pension benefits from a legitimate whistleblower would be
highly inappropriate, but overzealous and even unscrupulous individuals have
served in senior government positions in the past, and will undoubtedly do
so again in the future. This is why it is essential to have strong
protections for whistleblowers enshrined in law, and this is particularly
true for intelligence whistleblowers, since, given the covert nature of
intelligence operations and activities, there are limited opportunities for
public oversight. But reporting fraud and abuse by one's own colleagues
takes courage, and no whistleblowers will come forward if they do not
believe that they will be protected from retaliation," wrote Sen. Wyden, who
voted against the pending bill.
Another provision of the bill calls for establishment of "an effective
automated insider threat detection program for the information resources in
each element of the Intelligence Community in order to detect unauthorized
access to, or use or transmission of, classified information."
Setting aside the specifics of the proposals, the underlying message from
the Senate Committee is that agencies should do even more, not anything less
or different, to combat leaks of classified information. The Senate
Committee was silent on other aspects of classification policy. In
particular, it had guidance to offer concerning the halting efforts in the
Intelligence Community to reduce overclassification.
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_______________________________________________
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation
of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News Blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html
To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
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OR email your request to saftergood@xxxxxxx
Secrecy News is archived at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html
Support the FAS Project on Government Secrecy with a donation:
http://www.fas.org/member/donate_today.html
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_______________________
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Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@xxxxxxx
voice: (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood
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