[NYTr] FAS Secrecy News - 12/11/2007

Wed Dec 12 15:34:41 EST 2007

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2007, Issue No. 121
December 11, 2007

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Support Secrecy News: http://www.fas.org/static/contrib_sec.jsp

**	VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE IS NOT AN AGENCY, ISOO TOLD
**	BRAC PROCESS SAID TO BE SKEWED BY IMPROPER WITHHOLDING
**	CRS ON THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT

VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE IS NOT AN AGENCY, ISOO TOLD

The Office of the Vice President is not an "agency" for purposes of the
executive order on classification and therefore its classification and
declassification activity no longer need be reported to the Information
Security Oversight Office, the Justice Department finally informed ISOO
Director Bill Leonard in a newly disclosed letter.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/files/28/files//2007/12/eos-7-20-07-doj-to-leonard.pdf

In a January 9, 2007 letter to the Attorney General, Director Leonard
had questioned the OVP's refusal since 2003 to submit to normal
oversight.  He was following up on a complaint filed with ISOO by the
Federation of American Scientists, which was also forwarded to the
Attorney General.

The OVP's position is not consistent with a "plain text reading" of the
executive order, Mr. Leonard wrote to the Attorney General at that time.

Be that as it may, the President's intention is that the Office of Vice
President should not be considered an "agency" for purposes of
oversight, Steven G. Bradbury of the Justice Department Office of Legal
Counsel wrote to Mr. Leonard on July 20, 2007 on behalf of the Attorney
General.  He cited another letter to that effect from White House
counsel Fred Fielding.

The Bradbury letter to ISOO was obtained by blogger Marcy Wheeler, who
disclosed it today on her blog EmptyWheel:

     http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/

The Bush Administration's evident willingness to reinterpret -- not
revise -- the executive order and to deviate from what is commonly
understood as the order's "plain text" meaning illustrates the
unreliability of executive orders as a safeguard of public rights, Ms.
Wheeler stressed.

The move gave new resonance to a statement presented on the Senate
floor last week by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) who described an
Office of Legal Counsel opinion which he said concludes as follows:

"An Executive order cannot limit a President. There is no
constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new Executive
order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous
Executive order. Rather than violate an  Executive order, the President
has instead modified or waived it."

     http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_cr/fisa120707.html

What the President is claiming, Sen. Whitehouse said, is that "I don't
have to follow my own rules, and if I break them, I don't have to tell
you that I am breaking them."

BRAC PROCESS SAID TO BE SKEWED BY IMPROPER WITHHOLDING

Defense Department officials improperly withheld crucial data from the
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission that might have
justified the continued operation of certain Department laboratories
and facilities, according to a new insider account.

A detailed timeline supported by a hundred pages of internal
documentation leads the author to urge a reversal of the decision to
close Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, among other actions.

The anonymous author, known to Secrecy News, said he has no financial
or other material interest in the matter.  He wrote that "integrity in
Government decision-making is fundamental and essential to democracy."

See "Pentagon Officials Withheld BRAC Data to Protect Proposals That
Failed Legal Requirement" (119 pages, 4 MB PDF file):

   http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dod/brac/datawithheld.pdf

A House Armed Services Subcommittee will hold a hearing on December 12
"on implementation of the Base Realignment and Closure 2005 decisions."

CRS ON THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT

The Congressional Research Service has issued two new reports on the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as Congress prepares to consider
amendments to the Act.

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: A Brief Overview of
Selected Issues," December 7, 2007:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34279.pdf

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Comparison of House-Passed
H.R. 3773, S. 2248 as Reported By the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, and S. 2248 as Reported Out of the Senate Judiciary
Committee," December 6, 2007:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34277.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
1725 DeSales St NW, 6th floor
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