[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 02/15/12
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:35:07 -0500 (EST)
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Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:56:43 -0500
From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
To: saftergood@xxxxxxx
Subject: Secrecy News -- 02/15/12
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SECRECY NEWS
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from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 14
February 15, 2012
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Secrecy News Blog:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
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** REPORTER'S PRIVILEGE AT ISSUE IN STERLING LEAK CASE
** PENTAGON BASIC RESEARCH SAID TO NEED "MORE TRANSPARENCY"
** FY2012 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS, AND MORE FROM CRS
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REPORTER'S PRIVILEGE AT ISSUE IN STERLING LEAK CASE
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The question of whether a reporter is entitled to protect confidential
sources has emerged as a central issue in the pending pre-trial appeal in
prosecution of Jeffrey Sterling, the former CIA officer who is accused of
leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen.
"There is no 'reporter's privilege' applicable to criminal prosecutions
brought in good faith," prosecutors told the appeals court last month. "The
First Amendment creates no 'reporter's privilege' that would shield Risen
from his obligation to testify at Sterling's criminal trial and identify his
source." ("Testimony of Reporter Sought in Sterling Leak Case," Secrecy
News, January 17).
That's not true, countered Mr. Risen's attorneys in a lengthy response filed
yesterday, and the court should not rule otherwise.
"This Court should not depart from well-established precedent by being the
first court of appeals ever to deny the existence of a reporter's privilege
with respect to confidential source information in the criminal trial
context.... Confidentiality is essential for journalists to sustain their
relationships with sources and to obtain sensitive information from them.
Without it, the press cannot effectively serve the public by keeping it
informed."
Mr. Risen's attorneys proposed that the Court embrace a balancing test that
recognizes both the benefits and risks of leaks.
"We respectfully submit that leak cases should also include a weighing of
the competing interests as they manifest themselves in the case at hand --
that is, by 'weigh[ing] the public interest in compelling disclosure [of a
source], measured by the harm the leak caused, against the public interest
in newsgathering, measured by the leaked information's value'."
"Put simply, incorporating this public interest analysis is the most direct
way to protect journalism based on leaks that cause more good than harm. It
also provides a basis to force the privilege to yield for leaks that cause
more harm than good."
"Applying this approach to the facts of this case, it is clear that the
newsworthiness of the information contained in Chapter 9 of [Mr. Risen's
book] State of War outweighs any alleged harm that was caused by its
publication," Mr. Risen's attorneys wrote.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/sterling/021412-risen41.pdf
A response to the government's appeal was also filed yesterday by Mr.
Sterling, but it has not yet been publicly released.
The case has been tentatively scheduled for oral argument during the May
15-18 session of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
PENTAGON BASIC RESEARCH SAID TO NEED "MORE TRANSPARENCY"
The Department of Defense basic research program has many strengths as well
as some serious weaknesses, according to a new report from the Defense
Science Board (DSB), but it needs to open up and to improve its information
management practices.
"As is true for most programs in the DoD,... less bureaucracy and more
transparency would be welcome improvements," the DSB study said.
Current DoD information practices are not even responsive to internal agency
needs, let alone requests from outsiders, the DSB found.
"A significant handicap for conducting the [DSB] study was the difficulty of
getting data on the DOD basic research program. What should have been
easily retrievable data required huge time-consuming, labor-intensive
efforts to collect and assemble due to the lack of a modern management
information system that would enable answering questions posed by DOD
leadership."
"It is difficult to have management without management information," the DSB
report said.
See Report of the DSB Task Force on Basic Research, January 2012 (large
pdf):
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dsb/basic.pdf
FY2012 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS, AND MORE FROM CRS
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that
Congress has not made publicly available include these.
Defense: FY2012 Budget Request, Authorization and Appropriations, February
13, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R41861.pdf
Guam: U.S. Defense Deployments, February 13, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS22570.pdf
Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles:
Background and Issues, February 13, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R41464.pdf
Keeping America's Pipelines Safe and Secure: Key Issues for Congress,
February 13, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R41536.pdf
Discretionary Budget Authority by Subfunction: An Overview, February 14,
2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41726.pdf
Federal Employees' Retirement System: Benefits and Financing, February 14,
2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/98-810.pdf
The Role of Local Food Systems in U.S. Farm Policy, January 24, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42155.pdf
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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:
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Secrecy News is archived at:
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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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