[Infowarrior] - Pentagon proposes new info restrictions

[Richard Forno]

(c/o SecrecyNews)

PENTAGON PROPOSES NEW ACCESS RESTRICTIONS

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 (SN, 04/18/06),
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
(SN, 08/16/05).

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:

      http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2007/defauth-prop.html