Government Secrecy

05/25/2012

U.S. Torture

Appeals Court Says CIA Can Hide Torture Evidence from Public

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 1:52pm

Earlier this week, a federal appeals court ruled that the CIA can effectively decide for itself what Americans are allowed to learn about the torture committed in their name. At issue in the ACLU’s long-running Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was the agency’s right to withhold secret cables describing waterboarding; a photograph of a detainee, Abu Zubaydah, taken around the time that he was subjected to the “enhanced interrogation techniques”; and a short phrase that appears in several Justice Department memos referring to a “source of authority.”

05/23/2012

Government Surveillance

ACLU Sues As DOJ Ignores Surveillance Transparency Law

By Avinash Samarth, ACLU National Security Project at 11:32am

Today the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force the government to release statistics about its use of powerful electronic surveillance tools that law enforcement can use against any American simply by stating to a judge that it’s relevant to an investigation. The Department of Justice is required to disclose these statistics to Congress each year, yet routinely fails to do so. Today’s suit is an effort to compel the DOJ to follow the law (here are our complaint and our FOIA request).

05/18/2012

Targeted Killings

Government Asks for Another Delay in Targeted Killing FOIA Lawsuit

By Josh Bell, Media Strategist, ACLU at 4:41pm

We’ve just learned that the Obama administration has asked the court for another extension for filing briefs in the ACLU’s FOIA lawsuit seeking information about the government’s targeted killing program (see the government’s letter here, and the ACLU’s response opposing the request here). Responding to the news, ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said:

05/17/2012

PCLOB

The Limits of Oversight and the PCLOB

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:32am

(Update below)

Today, the nominees to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board (PCLOB) were voted from the Senate Judiciary Committee for full consideration in the Senate. It looks like the Senate is finally going to act to nominate five people to fill this vital oversight board. While this is an important step, it’s also something of a good government scandal and certainly a cautionary tale about the limits of oversight.

05/16/2012

No-Fly List

Ninth Circuit Presses Government Lawyer on Watch Lists: “What Would You Do?”

By Ben Wizner, Director, ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project at 1:53pm

A few weeks ago, Jay Stanley posted here about some of the dangers of “Big Data,” a sanitized term for data mining. When it’s employed by government security agencies in the search for terrorists, Jay wrote, there’s a substantial risk “that people will be tagged and suffer adverse consequences without due process, the ability to fight back, or even knowledge that they have been discriminated against.”

05/12/2012

Patriot Act

National Security Letters: A Note On Numbers

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 7:53pm

A new article in Wired covers the evolution of the gag orders that come with national security letters (NSLs), secret FBI demands for your communication, internet, financial and credit records in terrorism investigations. As we wrote on Wednesday, the FBI is now notifying NSL recipients of their right to judicial review as a result of years of ACLU client litigation.

05/11/2012

No-Fly List

Fighting to Clear Their Names: Appeals Arguments Today for No-Fly List Challenge

By Nusrat Choudhury, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 10:04am

Today in Portland, Ore., I will be in a federal appeals court asking a three-judge panel to reinstate the ACLU's lawsuit challenging the government's secretive No-Fly List. We represent 15 U.S. citizens and permanent residents, including four military veterans, who are banned from flying to or from the U.S. or over American airspace. They have never been told why they are on the list or given a reasonable opportunity to get off it.

05/09/2012

Patriot Act

National Security Letters: A Little Less Secret?

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project & Hannah Mercuris at 4:37pm

The government’s surveillance of Americans in the name of national security remains overwhelmingly secret. Some of the secrecy is legitimate, but much of it is not. The ACLU has been chipping away at secrecy and “gag order” provisions that interfere with the ability of the public and the courts to monitor the government’s surveillance activities. Recently released documents suggest that we’ve made some progress.

05/07/2012

Guantánamo

The Shame of Guantánamo: A Close-Up View of Injustice

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 4:21pm

As I watched the arraignment Saturday of five accused conspirators in the 9/11 attacks, I was reminded of Yogi Berra. Sadly, it was a case of déjà vu all over again.

05/01/2012

Targeted Killings

Further Reflections About John Brennan's Targeted Killing Speech

By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU at 11:48am

The president's chief counterterrorism advisor delivered a speech yesterday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. We issued a first reaction here. Here are some further thoughts:

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