- Spy court gets new home outside DOJ - Gov't Argues for Withholding Records about Missing WH E-mail - DOD ending TALON military database of domestic terror threats in September; will keep data - How records managers view their processes Patrice McDermott, Director OpenTheGovernment.org www.openthegovernment.org 202.332.OPEN (6736) - Spy court gets new home outside DOJ By Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer The nation's spy court is moving from its longtime home at the Justice Department to a nearby federal courthouse, a move that some hope will assert the court's independence even as Congress shifts some of its authority to the Bush administration. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who presided over the court from 1995 to 2002, agreed the arrangement was never ideal because of that perception. But space at the Washington federal courthouse was scarce until the completion of an annex in 2005. more [AP via SanLuisObispo.com] *** - Gov't Argues for Withholding Records about Missing WH E-mail Pete Yost, AP Writer Opening a new front in the Bush administration's battle to keep its records confidential, the Justice Department is contending that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The department's argument is in response to a lawsuit trying to force the office to reveal what it knows about the disappearance of White House e-mails. The Office of Administration provides administrative services, including information technology support, to the Executive Office of the President. Most of the White House is not subject to the FOIA, but certain components within it handle FOIA requests. Last year the Office of Administration processed 65 FOIA requests ...the Justice Department maintained in court papers filed Tuesday that the Office of Administration has no substantial authority independent of President Bush and therefore is not subject to the FOIA's disclosure requirements. The Justice Department Web site, which lists all FOIA contacts inside the government, identifies seven units inside the Executive Office of the President as responding to FOIA requests, including the Office of Administration. more [AP via newsvine.com] *** - DOD ending TALON military database of domestic terror threats in September; will keep data Leslie Schulman August 21, 2007 The US Defense Department's controversial Threat and Local Observation Notice system, or TALON database, will be discontinued on September 17 but the data it has collected will be retained in accordance with intelligence oversight requirements, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Gary Keck said Tuesday. Keck said that TALON is being suspended because it no longer has "analytical value." Keck announced that a new reporting system has not yet been implemented and, in the interim, the Department of Defense will use the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Guardian reporting system. The program, known as TALON, was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and was designed to maintain a base of information on reported potential threats to military facilities and personnel. In December 2005 it was disclosed that the system included data on anti-military protests and other peaceful demonstrations. more [Jurist and AP] *** - How records managers view their processes August 13, 2007 More than half of the 70 senior records management professionals surveyed at the most recent conference of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators said their e-discovery processes were ineffective or needed improvement. E-discovery is the procedure for locating old electronic files, such as e-mail messages, that may be relevant in court cases and investigations. The report also found that 55 percent of the organizations in the survey spend 5 percent or less of their budgets on records management [GCN] Link: Robbins-Goia Records Management Survey ***
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