American Association of Law Libraries · American Civil Liberties Union 
American Immigration Lawyers Association · American Library Association 
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee · Americans for Democratic Action 
Arab American Institute · Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Association of Research Libraries · Center for Democracy and Technology 
Children's Environmental Health Network · Clean Production Network 
Common Cause · Communications Workers of America
Cook Inlet Keeper · Council on American-Islamic Relations 
Council on Professional Association of Federal Statistics · Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Privacy Information Center · Environmental Advocates of NY 
Environmental Defense · Federation of American Scientists · Freedom of Information Center
Friends of the Earth · Fund for Constitutional Government 
Government Accountability Project · Greenpeace · Maryland Pesticide Network 
National Environmental Trust · Natural Resources Defense Council 
New Jersey Public Interest Research Group · New Jersey Work Environment Council 
Ohio Citizen Action · Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition · OMB Watch 
People for the American Way · Pesticide Action Network, North America 
Powder River Basin Resource Council · Privacy Activism · Privacy Times 
Project on Government Oversight · Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 
Sierra Club · Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition · Society of Professional Journalists 
Strategic Counsel on Corporate Accountability · U.S. Public Interest Research Group
University of Missouri School of Journalism · West Harlem Environmental Action 
Working Group on Community Right-to-Know

FIX THE CRITICIAL INFRASTRUCUTRE INFORMATION SUBTITLE IN THE HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002

The undersigned organizations are concerned about the current language for Critical Infrastructure Information in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which contains ambiguous definitions that could unintentionally allow companies to keep broad categories of information secret and provisions that restrict the government's ability to use the information.  In order to better serve the goal of improving public safety and security, we support efforts to fix the Homeland Security Act by clarifying the scope of the information protected and removing provisions that overly restrict the government's ability to use the information. 

Senators Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Jeffords (I-VT), Lieberman (D-CT), and Byrd (D-WV) will soon introduce legislation entitled the Restoration of Freedom of Information Act of 2003 (""Restore FOIA"") addressing these concerns, using bipartisan language developed last year by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.  The Restore FOIA solution would:

• Clarify the FOIA exemption to be more consistent with established law.  
• Remove the restrictions on the government's ability to act as it sees fit in response to the information it receives.    
• Preserve whistleblower protections by removing unnecessary criminal penalties.

The information provisions currently within the Homeland Security Act of 2002 do not accomplish the goal of the law -- empowering the government to protect citizens using private-sector information which is ""voluntarily"" shared and identifies potential vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks.  The current language could have devastating effects on the work of the government to protect public health, safety and security, as well as government accountability. It is essential that these problems in the Homeland Security Act be fixed immediately before they become too firmly entrenched in the law.  

Jean AbiNader 
Managing Director 
Arab American Institute