The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has once again proposed a revision to its rules on information that should be withheld from the public under a category called Safeguards Information (SGI). The rule was originally proposed in February 2005. Now based on public comments and changes to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the NRC has proposed additional changes. While apparently narrowing the scope of some provisions, making it harder to withhold information, the amended rule would significantly expand SGI's definition, inserting language and add a new category of covered information -- Safeguards Information-Modified Handling (SGI-M).

Controversy was sparked this week over how much authority the newly-funded Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) has to investigate excessive secrecy. A bipartisan group of Senators from the Senate Intelligence Committee requested that the board review two reports on intelligence failures leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq for possible over-classification. In an interim response, the board maintained it can only review a document after receiving authorization from the president. If this decision stands, PIDB will hold no independent power to review potential abuses of power and cases of unnecessary secrecy.

High on Congress' agenda this week is legislation to authorize the National Security Agency's (NSA) Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP). In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) brokered a hollow compromise with moderate Republicans on the National Security Surveillance Act (S. 2453), increasing the likelihood of its passage. In the House, Rep. Heather Wilson's (R-NM) Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act (H.R. 5825) passed out of committee and is likely to see a floor vote this week. Both bills would legalize the warrantless surveillance program and provide exceptions to the judicial approval required by the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The House and Senate are nearing a vote on legislation to authorize a new federal agency, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency would oversee "advanced research and development" of countermeasures to bioterrorism threats, epidemics, and pandemics, and would have broad authority to exempt information from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).