Proposed National Security Agency FOIA Exemption

[Rick Nakroshis]

 From the National Security Archive newsletter:

Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 14:54:11 -0400
From: NSARCHIVE <mevans at GWU.EDU>
Subject: Update: Proposed National Security Agency FOIA Exemption
National Security Archive Update, May 5, 2003
PROPOSED FOIA EXEMPTION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY FILES BURIED IN FY 2004
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Proposed FOIA Exemption Would Render Secret Many Valuable Records Regarding
the Role of the NSA in Signals Intelligence and Cryptology History
http://www.nsarchive.org/news/20030505
Washington, D.C., May 5, 2003 - The proposed FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act
would throw a cloak of secrecy over valuable National Security Agency ("NSA")
records now released under the Freedom of Information Act, including important
historical records on the use of signals intelligence and cryptology in U.S.
defense history. There have been no public hearings on the proposed
legislation, which is based on unsupported justifications. While much of the
information in those files is classified, many valuable documents are
routinely released from such files that no longer would be available to the
public if the FOIA exemption is enacted into law. The bill is scheduled for
markup on Tuesday May 6, 2003 by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The NSA has falsely claimed that these files are so highly classified that NSA
"almost invariably withholds" the documents from release. But thousands of
declassified documents from these same files testify to the contrary,
including information relating to the use of signals intelligence in space,
records concerning the U.S. Signals Intelligence effort to collect and decrypt
the text of Soviet KGB and GRU messages known as the VENONA project, the Cuban
Missile Crisis, and SIGSALY Secure Digital Voice Communications in World War
II, and the Korean War.
The proposed FOIA exemption would stop all such releases in their tracks and
deny the public important information about the role that the NSA, signals
intelligence, and cryptology played in U.S. foreign policy and history.
The proposed section extends to the NSA the language of the CIA Information
Act of 1984, which exempted certain files in the CIA's Directorates of
Operations and Science and Technology from the Freedom of Information Act on
the basis of an extensive public record, multiple hearings, and specificity as
to exactly which files would be covered. Unlike the CIA Act, however, there
were no public hearings on the proposed NSA exemption, no debate, no
testimony, and no public record other than a misleading page and a half
justification from the NSA.
At a minimum, the proposed exemption should not be enacted into law until the
NSA has conducted a study examining the impact of and need for the exemption
and until public hearings are held on the matter.
The National Security Archive won the prestigious George Polk Award in April
2000 for "piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy." The Archive's
many FOIA litigation victories include the release of historic documentation
ranging from the Kennedy-Khrushchev letters during the Cuban missile crisis to
Oliver North's diaries during the Iran-contra scandal, and the landmark case
that saved from destruction the White House e-mail of the Reagan, Bush, and
Clinton administrations.
The text of the proposed NSA FOIA exemption, the Archive's analysis of the
proposed legislation, and other material is available here:
http://www.nsarchive.org/news/20030505
_________________________________________________________________________
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research
institute and library located at The George Washington University in
Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents
acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public
charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is
supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and
individuals.



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