Security and Secrecy

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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FERC Update

On March 25, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) stopped accepting comments on its ideas for limiting public access to "critical energy infrastructure information" (CEII). FERC first released an initial policy statement addressing this issue in October 2000, and followed it up with a January 16 Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in the Federal Register. The Notice of Inquiry sought public input on possible regulatory changes that would allow the agency to restrict unfettered general public access to CEII, but still permit those with a "need-to-know access to such information.

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OMB Watch Submits Comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

On January 16, 2002, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released a statement seeking "responses to questions on the best way to handle the confidentiality of certain documents as it weighs its regulatory responsibility against the need to protect against attacks on the nation's critical energy infrastructure facilities." For this purpose, FERC issued a Notice of Inquiry and Guidance for Filings in the Interim (NOI) seeking public input, and OMB Watch submitted the following comments. To: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission From: Sean Moulton, OMB Watch

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Hazard Reduction at Chemical Plants Equals Safer Hometowns

The Safe Hometowns Initiative, a coalition of citizen groups, held press briefings and events in more than 20 states across the country on March 7 to warn that six months after the Sept. 11 attacks, millions of Americans remain at risk from possible terrorist attacks on chemical storage facilities.

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Public Still At Risk of Chemical Plant Attack

The Washington Post reported last week that a previously undisclosed study by the Army surgeon general concludes that as many as 2.4 million people are at risk of being killed or injured in a terrorist attack against a U.S. toxic chemical plant in a densely populated area. This shocking number is twice as high as previous government estimates of possible casualties of a worst-case scenario involving terrorist attacks on chemical plants.

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Coalition Calls for Reduction of Chemical Hazards

The Safe Hometowns Initiative, a coalition of citizen groups, announced yesterday that six months after the Sept. 11 attacks, millions of Americans remain at risk from possible terrorist attacks on chemical storage facilities.

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Cyber Security Information Act, HR 4246

106TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. ll IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. DAVIS of Virginia (for himself and Mr. MORAN of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on lllllllllllllll A BILL To encourage the secure disclosure and protected exchange of information about cyber security problems, solutions, test practices and test results, and related matters in connection with critical infrastructure protection.

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FERC Proposes Changes to Public Access Policies

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeks public input on “changes that should be made to its regulations to restrict unfettered general public access to critical energy infrastructure information, but still permit those with a need for the information to obtain it in an efficient manner.” The request for public input was published Jan. 16, 2002 by FERC and appeared in the Jan. 23, 2002 Federal Register. Read the press release on FERC's site.

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Democracy's Strength -- An Informed Public

Recently, the push has been to exempt Critical Infrastructure information from the FOIA. No one disagrees that there is some information that the public should not have, at least for a specified period of time — although there may be disagreements on the nature of that information and on the length of time. (Keynote address by Patrice McDermott, Senior Policy Analyst, OMB Watch, to US Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Conference.) Democracy's Strength—An Informed Public Keynote Address by Patrice McDermott to U.S. Department of Energy

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Sign-On Letter Opposing Leak Statute

OMB Watch and others sign on to letter to White House urging the President to veto the Intelligence Authorization Act because it, for the first time in American history, creates an "official secrets" act. October 30, 2000 John Podesta Chief of Staff The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. Podesta: We are writing to encourage the President to take the strongest possible action to prevent -- or at the very minimum delay - the implementation of Section 303 of H.R. 4392 "Prohibition on Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information." As you know,

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Official Secrets Act Homepage

In 2001, Congress passed -- and President Clinton vetoed -- what would have been this nation's first "official secrets act," criminalizing leaks of any "properly classified" information. This web site presents the essential background for the public debate over this "pernicious secrecy bill," sponsored by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), who will no doubt propose leaks legislation again this year. Official Secrets Act [ OSA Homepage | The Issues | 2001 Attack | Congressional Letter | 2000 Attack | Links ]

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