The Department of Defense has asked Congress to enact two expansive new provisions in the FY 2008 defense authorization act to help it restrict public access to information.
One of the provisions would create a new exemption to the Freedom of Information Act for certain unclassified information related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The other would establish civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized publication or sale of maps and images ("geodetic products") that the Secretary of Defense has designated for "limited distribution."
The proposed exemption for unclassified WMD information, which was proposed and rejected by Congress last year, is exceptionally broad in scope.
Its definition of "weapons of mass destruction" even extends to devices that are not lethal, as long as they may cause "serious bodily injury to a significant number of people" (50 U.S.C. 2302).
The Pentagon's argument for the exemption is further undermined by the assertion that without it, unclassified information could "easily" assist a terrorist to make or use a weapon of mass destruction. The notion that terrorism is "easy," popular with some New York Times op-ed writers and other lazy persons, was memorably dissected by George Smith of GlobalSecurity.org and the Dick Destiny blog.
The second provision to penalize "inappropriate disclosures" of geodetic information, "including postings of such products on the internet," originated with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), which said it could not effectively protect these unclassified maps and images without a new criminal prohibition.
"For several years, products bearing the LIMDIS [limited dissemination] caveat have wrongfully been offered for sale to the public ... on eBay or displayed on internet sites. To date, DCIS efforts to prosecute the eBay sellers have not been successful."
An organization that engaged in unauthorized disclosure or dissemination of such materials would be subject to a penalty of "not more than $500,000 for each violation...."
The text of the two proposed Pentagon access restrictions, with accompanying explanation and justification, may be found here.
Republished from the Secrecy News blog at http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy, a project of the Federation of American Scientists. Discuss the social, security and political implications of science and technology at the Science Policy group on Gather, at FAS.gather.com
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Comments: 13
I'm writing my reps tonight...anyone else game?
In time of war neither of these suggestions are bad ideas:
1. restrict information on weapons of mass destruction
2. restrict access to maps that could help terrorists destroy things ( including humans )
So why such an uproar ? Well I'll tell ya why. Somewhere along the line over the last several years, our government and media have stopped acting like the people of this country are part of the decision making process that governs this country.
A. The government only reveals policy changes when forced to, they never ask the opinion of the public on even the simplest of matters.
B. The media never attempts to inform the public in a way that shapes policy, they only reveal things that will cause enough interest to get the public to watch the "film at 11 ".
As a result, the illusion that radical elements on the left and radical elements on the right are the only types of citizens that exist in this country has been created.
My friends we are being "hornswoggled " by our own government and our own media. The result of this will be decisions made that accomplish nothing but generating apathy across the board.
BTW: Do the people of this country consider themselves policy makers or party dogs?
We should be repealing some of the black out laws we have. Transparency is necessary to protect our civil liberties, our civil rights and our civil reputation.
More secrecy for government equals less security and freedom for the people. The more restrictions we allow them to place on us the fewer liberties we have.
A map of stadium seating might help a terrorist plan a WMD attack. Would passing this mean that TickeTron could get fined for showing people a diagram of available seats? Or a diagram of exits, rest rooms and staging areas?
All this desire to hide information undermines and damages the public's ability for trust.
A government which appears so scared of outside knowledge eventually falls, and I do not wish to see our democracy crumble! Shades of secret police states color such an idea as is indicated in the article. Thanks again, for giving us the knowledge, as this is the PEOPLE'S most powerful weapon!
I think it is high time for a review of the whole system. I read somewhere that they rolled back the public date for documents related to the Kennedy assassination and even WWII. This is pure crap, and the American people cannot be expected to understand the need for sacrifices and work for this country if they are disrespected and treated like "mushrooms" if you recall what that means!