Freedom of Information
Classified Info in Criminal Trials, and More from CRS
from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood
Former CIA officer John C. Kiriakou is to be arraigned today on charges of leaking classified information to the press in violation of the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act — charges that he denies. See The Case of An Accused Leaker: Politics or Justice? by Carrie Johnson, National Public Radio, April 13.
A newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service discusses Protecting Classified Information and the Rights of Criminal Defendants: The Classified Information Procedures Act, April 2, 2012.
Another newly updated CRS report finds that federal agencies spent $750.4 million last year to pay for “advertising services.” But though non-trivial, it seems that this amount was less than was spent for such purposes in any previous year since 2003.
The term advertising is not strictly defined in budget documents, and may include various forms of public relations, public service notices, and the like. “Government advertising can be controversial if it conflicts with citizens’ views about the proper role of government,” the CRS report stated. “Yet some government advertising is accepted as a normal part of government information activities.”
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/classified_trials_crs.html
Week of Action On CISPA Preceding “Cybersecurity Week” in the House
from Center for Democracy & Technology – Keeping the Internet Open, Innovative and Free by CDT
We need cybersecurity legislation, not surveillance legislation.
Leslie Harris – President & CEO, CDT
Security & Surveillance, Cybersecurity
Washington – This week CDT is participating in a “week of action” urging Internet users to ask their Members of Congress to amend parts of CISPA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act—that pose serious threats to privacy.
Other groups joining in the week of action include The Constitution Project, American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Free Press, Reporters Without Borders, Sunlight Foundation, TechFreedom, and others.
EFF opposes CISPA on Hackers and Founders Panel
from Deeplinks by dan
Yesterday, EFF participated in a panel discussion about CISPA moderated by CNET’s Declan McCullagh and put on by Hackers and Founders. We were happy to have the opportunity to do so, and although we disagreed quite a bit with a key proponent of the bill, House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee staffer Jamil Jaffer, one area where we agreed is that more people should read the text of the bill. Let’s not let this legislation rush through right when people are starting to question it—if Jamil and other staffers stand behind the bill, why not give it another week or two to let the public debate mature?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/eff-opposes-cispa-hackers-and-founders-panel
Public Policy
from NIH Funding Opportunities (Notices, PA, RFA)
Notice NOT-HS-12-009 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HS-12-009.html
from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by admin
April 17, 2012—Today is Tax Day, and many Americans may be wondering how government uses the revenue it raises from income taxes. One example can be found in the National Weather Service and its Storm Prediction Center. These public structures, funded with our tax dollars, forecasted this past weekend’s violent tornado outbreak in the Plains and the Midwest days ahead of time. Thanks to this advance warning, the National Weather Service helped save countless lives and prevented millions of dollars worth of damage to military aircraft in the face of more than 100 tornadoes spread across several states. The bottom line: public structures save lives.
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12047
Privacy Concerns
GAO Completes an “Intelligence-Related” Review
from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood
Following years of controversy, the Government Accountability Office this week released an unclassified version of its long-awaited report on FBI Counterterrorism.
The report itself comes as an anti-climax, but it is the first GAO report involving intelligence-related matters to be completed since the issuance of an intelligence community directive last summer which authorized GAO to gain access to certain intelligence agency information. As such, it may herald a growing role for GAO in intelligence oversight.
Given the FBI’s and the Justice Department’s stubborn resistance to this GAO review, which was suspended for two years as a result, one might have expected the resulting report to address matters of the greatest significance and sensitivity — perhaps dealing with infiltration of mosques, allegations of entrapment, unauthorized domestic surveillance, or something along those lines.
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/gao_fbi_ctd.html
Secret Systems Clutter the Electromagnetic Spectrum
from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood
The difficulty that the military has in allocating the efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum for military operations is aggravated by the fact that some of those uses — involving intelligence platforms and sensors — are secret even from military planners themselves, a new Pentagon doctrinal publication notes.
“Coordination with intelligence units and agencies can be challenging for many reasons, to include classification issues, disparate data formats, and separate technical control or reporting channels,” the publication states.
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/em_clutter.html
“Traitor,” A Whistleblower’s Tale
from Secrecy News by Steven Aftergood
Jesselyn Radack’s memoir “Traitor: The Whistleblower and the American Taliban” presents the moving story of a young attorney’s unexpected encounter with official misconduct, and the excruciating ordeal that ensued when she decided to challenge it.
In 2001, Ms. Radack was a Justice Department attorney and specialist in legal ethics. In response to an official inquiry, she advised that the newly captured John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” should not be interrogated without an attorney present — which he then was anyway. When Department officials publicly denied having received any such legal advice, and even destroyed evidence to the contrary, she exposed the deception.
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/04/traitor.html
Open Access
State Agency Databases
From GODORT
Jump to: navigation, search
In every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information – information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content is available on search engines, but much of it is part of the invisible web.
Since July 2007, librarians and other government information specialists have been working on identifying and annotating these databases in one place. We’ve chased across fifty state web sites so you don’t have to!
Information here changes from time to time. Check out our last seven days’ or 14 days’ worth of activity. Another parallel project of note is the State Blue Books project.
http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases
April 18, 2011 Charity and Security Network newsletter
from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by ssazawal
1. The Threat Behind the Homegrown Threat
2. Overcoming Islamophobia through Charity, Advocacy and Education
3. Private funding: An Emerging Trend in Humanitarian Giving
4. Governments Not the Only Major Players in Global Assistance
from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by admin
April 17, 2012—Today is Tax Day, and many Americans may be wondering how government uses the revenue it raises from income taxes. One example can be found in the National Weather Service and its Storm Prediction Center. These public structures, funded with our tax dollars, href=”http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/04/some-thoughts-about-yesterdays.html” target=”_blank”>forecasted this past weekend’s violent tornado outbreak in the Plains and the Midwest days ahead of time. Thanks to this advance warning, the National Weather Service helped save countless lives and prevented millions of dollars worth of damage to military aircraft in the face of more than 100 tornadoes spread across several states. The bottom line: public structures save lives.
Image by flickr user Frank Peters, used under a Creative Commons license.
EPA Releases Open Government Plan 2.0
from All Articles from OMB Watch (Articles Only) by admin
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other major federal agencies released updated versions of their Open Government Plans on April 9. The EPA’s Open Government Plan 2.0 discusses its ongoing efforts to increase transparency and instill a culture of greater openness through activities designed to increase participation in rulemaking, allow greater public access to EPA data, and speed the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests.
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12050
International Outlook
Countries Fail at Regulating Money-in-Politics, Regardless of How Weak or Solid their Laws
from RSSfeed by Global Integrity
Washington D.C., Friday, March 30, 2012 Regardless of how weak or sophisticated their political financing regulations are, countries around the world are equally failing to effectively regulate the flow of money into politics, a new report finds. The Global Integrity Report: 2011, a major investigative study of 31 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends globally.
Twenty-nine countries out of a 31-country sample scored less than 60 on a 100-point scale on questions assessing the effectiveness of laws regulating individual and corporate donations to political parties, as well as the auditing of those donations and campaign expenditures. Government monitoring agencies tasked with enforcing such laws typically lack investigative power and often have little to no authority to impose sanctions.
Please feel free to pass along in part or in its entirety.
The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.
