NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER ON CLASSIFICATION ANTICIPATED Secrecy News -- 12/03/02

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Aftergood, Steven" <saftergood () fas org>
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2002 13:20:06 -0500
To: secrecy_news () lists fas org
Subject: Secrecy News -- 12/03/02

NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER ON CLASSIFICATION ANTICIPATED

A long awaited Bush Administration executive order on national
security classification and declassification policy may be completed
"by the end of the year."  But contrary to the fears of some and the
hopes of others, the Bush order will not fundamentally reject the
substantial reforms of cold war secrecy policy that were adopted in
President Clinton's 1995 executive order 12958, which yielded an
avalanche of declassified historical documents.

The pending draft order was briefly described in the minutes of a
September 23 meeting of the State Department Historical Advisory
Committee that were approved for release on December 2.

The forthcoming Bush order will be a "revision rather than a rewrite"
that will preserve the basic structure of executive order 12958,
according to remarks attributed to William Leary of the National
Security Council staff.  In particular, the new order will retain
"the 25 year rule" which dictates that most classified documents are
to be declassified as they become 25 years old.

However, historian Robert Schulzinger, chair of the State Department
Advisory Committee, warned that "The high point in declassification
has passed, and a revised executive order will be less transparent."

The newly released minutes also provide a status report on publication
of the State Department's official "Foreign Relations of the United
States" (FRUS) series;  the ongoing re-review of declassified
documents at the National Archives that was mandated under the 1999
Kyl/Lott amendment to search for inadvertent disclosures of
classified information;  and other details of historical document
declassification.  The minutes confirm that one classified document
was actually published in a FRUS volume "many years ago," to the
dismay of Energy Department reviewers.

A copy of the newly released Historical Advisory Committee minutes is
posted here:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/hac0902.html


PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS STRESS SECRECY

Efforts to defend and expand executive branch secrecy prerogatives are
a recurring feature of the Bush Administration's interactions with
the other branches of government.

The Administration's assertive posture is particularly evident in
Presidential signing statements on new legislation, which routinely
include rebuffs of even the most innocuous congressional mandates on
disclosure of information to the public or the Congress.

Nearly every Presidential statement on legislation involving national
security, defense, or foreign policy now seems to include a
disclaimer, warning that the Administration will implement a new law
only as it sees fit.

The latest of many examples is President Bush's statement on the
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003, which he signed on
December 2.

"A number of provisions of the Act establish new requirements for the
executive branch to furnish sensitive information to the Congress on
various subjects, including sections 221, 1043, 1065, [and several
others]," President Bush's signing statement observed.

However, the President advised, "The executive branch shall construe
such provisions in a manner consistent with the President's
constitutional authority to withhold information the disclosure of
which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the
deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the
Executive's constitutional duties."  See:

   http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20021202-12.html

This does not necessarily entail any violation of law, but it does
signify a continuing consolidation of executive branch authority at
the likely expense of congressional oversight, as well as public
accountability.

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