Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

ALEC-backed Attacks on E-Gov't Move in States

Legislation backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council that would stifle public access to taxpayer-funded information and services in the name of protecting commercial profits is rapidly moving through the state legislature in Ohio and is under consideration in other states.

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Permanent Patriot Act?

Recently the Bush administration and several lead Republicans in Congress have begun pushing to make permanent the governmental powers temporarily expanded by the USA Patriot Act. The USA Patriot Act, which greatly expanded the government’s ability to spy on citizens, only gained wide support when many of the critical provisions were designed to expire or sunset at the end of 2005, unless Congress re-authorizes them.

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DHS Broadens CII in Proposed Rule

Last week the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed its rule for handling Critical Infrastructure Information (CII). While it was encouraging that DHS is engaging in an open rulemaking process, complete with a public comment period, the content of the proposed rule was troubling. The CII provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 were already widely criticized, resulting in proposed legislation to fix the provisions.

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Another Non-Disclosure First

In a decision that seems almost Kafkaesque, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has achieved new heights in secrecy with its refusal to release the CIA Headquarters Handbook on releasing information to the public. The policy handbook was requested in a Freedom of Information Act letter from a reporter. The CIA confirmed the existence of the manual but claimed that no portion of it, including the cover page, could be released.

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Lawyers Criticize Administration Secrecy

The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights recently released a report titled “Imbalance of Powers” which details how the Bush Administration has steadily rolled back basic human rights protections and civil liberties since the September 11 attacks. The shroud of secrecy in which the executive branch has cloaked itself is among the troubling trends. The excessive secrecy makes effective oversight impossible and significantly reduces government accountability.

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Chemical Security Re-Emerges in Senate

During the last session of Congress, Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) made a tremendous effort to move a Chemical Security Bill that would require chemical plants to assess their vulnerabilities and take steps to reduce the risk they pose to surrounding communities. Unfortunately, due largely to efforts by the chemical industry to oppose the bill, Corzine’s bill was blocked from ever being considered by the full Senate.

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Government Accidentally Does Its Job

An alert from the new Department of Homeland Security warned that Chinese hackers were planning to attack U.S. and U.K. websites in an effort to protest the war in Iraq. The alert warned that the main plan was to render Web sites and networks unusable by flooding them with massive amounts of traffic. According to the alert, the hackers also planned to deface selected Web sites. The Department of Homeland Security sent the alert to government and industry officials to allow them to make preparations.

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