Government Secrecy

07/18/2012

Reporting From Guantanamo: “Why Not Get It Right the First Time?”

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 5:08pm

At the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay this week, military commission proceedings have resumed in the capital case against Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri, a 47-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia, who is facing a possible death sentence for his alleged involvement in the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole over a decade ago. Apprehended in 2002, Mr. al-Nashiri was held by the CIA for four years in secret before his transfer to military custody. According to a 2004 CIA Inspector General report, he was waterboarded and threatened during an interrogation with a power drill and handgun.

07/03/2012

FOIA

Happy Birthday, FOIA: The Myths and an Unlikely Hero Behind the Origin of the Freedom of Information Act

By Sam Walker, University of Nebraska at Omaha at 12:52pm

Happy birthday, FOIA!

July 4 marks the 46th birthday of the Freedom of Information Act. President Lyndon Johnson signed the historic law on July 4, 1966, at his ranch in Texas. FOIA has become a cornerstone of American democracy, making it possible for Americans to find out what their government is doing and to hold it accountable for its actions.

06/21/2012

U.S. Torture

The “Watergate Moment” and the “Torture Moment”

We just marked the 40^th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, when five burglars associated with the White House were caught in the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC. The burglary unleashed a series of revelations of misdeeds that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974.

06/19/2012

Online Privacy

More Transparency Needed For Government's Use of National Security Powers For Data Requests From Companies

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 2:27pm

Google's transparency report reveals that the U.S. government asked Google for data on its users 6,321 times during the second half of 2011—a 75% increase from two years ago.

06/14/2012

Warrantless Wiretapping

Does the Government Think It Can Read Our Mail Without a Warrant Just Because It’s Electronic?

By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 4:39pm

Today the ACLU filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to force the government to disclose information about the circumstances in which it accesses the contents of Americans’ private electronic communications without obtaining a warrant based upon probable cause. Such communications can include email, text messaging, and private conversations on social networks. While there is reason to believe this practice is widespread, there is much we don’t know about this government eavesdropping: when it happens, how often it’s done, who they’re watching, how long they monitor these communications, and what policies they have established regarding this monitoring. Through the lawsuit filed today, we hope to find out much more.

06/14/2012

Location Tracking

DOJ Ducks Oversight On Location Tracking

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:17pm

How is the Department of Justice using location tracking? If you were looking for an answer to this simple question, this was not the week. Instead, as Congress attempts to oversee this crucial privacy question, it is getting double talk and stonewalling.

Let’s start with the legal standard the Department is using. Earlier this week Senator Al Franken (D-MN) asked Attorney General Holder to clarify the Department’s position on location tracking. Specifically, he asked why, even though experts agree that the recent Supreme Court case US v. Jones stands for the proposition that law enforcement needs a warrant to place a GPS tracking device on a car, DOJ is arguing in another case for a lower, non-probable cause standard. (In an amicus, the ACLU argued that the Fourth Amendment requires that police obtain a warrant to engage in GPS monitoring.) The Attorney General replied that he wasn’t familiar with the case but agreed with Senator Franken that in interpreting Jones they were “likely to be dealing with a situation where we need a warrant.” This frustrating answer seems aimed at reassuring Congress that Americans’ constitutional rights are being protected while DOJ is arguing precisely the opposite in court.

06/14/2012

Freedom of Expression

Selective Leaks Worst of All Worlds for Free Speech

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:21pm

As the election summer heats up, Republicans in Congress are making hay with what they claim are selective leaks by the Obama administration, designed to bolster the president’s national security cred. At a Senate Judiciary hearing yesterday, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) went so far as to call for Attorney General Holder’s resignation in part because of the leak issue. While the jury is decidedly out on the merits of these claims, these questions do need to be asked. If there is one thing more dangerous than over-classification of government information, it’s selective declassification for political gain.

06/13/2012

Targeted Killings

Why Targeted Killing is “Unlawful and Dangerous”

By Ateqah Khaki & Hannah Mercuris at 2:08pm

This morning, USA Today ran an op-ed by ACLU National Security Project director, Hina Shamsi about the U.S. government’s unlawful targeted killing program. She writes:

Today, our government is killing people in countries in which the United States is not at war. It reportedly adds suspected terrorists — including U.S. citizens — to "kill lists" for months at a time, which by definition cannot be limited to genuinely imminent threats. The New York Times disclosed that the government "counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants" unless intelligence proves them innocent — but only after they are dead.

When mistakes are made, our nation refuses to acknowledge them and does not compensate victims. The first Yemeni missile strike President Obama authorized, in December 2009, targeted alleged militants but killed 21 children and 14 women. WikiLeaks revealed a secret agreement by Yemen to accept responsibility for the U.S. killing. Yemenis were enraged, but most Americans probably never heard about it.

06/11/2012

Government Secrecy

VIDEO: Surveillance, Secrecy, and Government Accountability

By Amanda Corlett, ACLU at 5:31pm

Last month, ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer participated in a panel convened by Open Society Foundations in New York City entitled National Security Secrecy and Surveillance: Defending the Public’s Right to Know.

The conversation, which was moderated by secrecy expert Steven Aftergood, a Senior Research Analyst at the Federation of American

06/07/2012

Targeted Killings

First the 'targeted killing' campaign, then the targeted propaganda campaign

By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU & Nathan Freed Wessler, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project at 11:10am

Originally posted on The Guardian.

A story in last week's New York Times painted a remarkably detailed picture of the US government's so-called "targeted killing" campaign, a campaign that involves the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to kill suspected insurgents and terrorists and, it turns out, many, many others, as well. The story, written by Jo Becker and Scott Shane, discussed the CIA's choice of munitions, its efforts to avoid civilian casualties, and its method for calculating the number of civilians killed in any given strike. The story also underscored the extent to which President Obama himself is involved in overseeing the campaign – and even in selecting its targets.

American Civil Liberties Union