Defense Rider Gives Unjustified Secrecy to Intelligence Agency - May 19, 2003 Vol. 4 No. 10

May 19, 2003 Vol. 4 No. 10:

Published: 05/19/2003

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Defense Rider Gives Unjustified Secrecy to Intelligence Agency

The Defense Department's budget authorization bill for fiscal year 2004 includes a provision that would further shroud the National Security Agency (NSA) in secrecy, even though no public case has been made for the provision.

The Senate language, included in the proposed FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act (S. 1050, sec. 1035), would exempt all "operational files" of the NSA from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The language is modeled off of an exemption granted to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1984 after numerous congressional hearings and extensive study, a process which created legislation that was specifically designed for the CIA's needs. No such discussion has occurred for NSA and this appears to be an attempt to fill a round hole with a square peg.

A letter signed by 22 groups expressing objections to this "cut-and-paste without debate" approach was sent to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.