|
"Those who say it cannot be done should not interfere with those of us who are doing it"© - S. Hickman
| Home Against the Grain Livid Leigh Boilin' Ed D. Tom The Informer Knowledge is Freedom Privacy Links Court Case Contact Us |
© 1994 - 2007
|
Against the Grain
|
THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2004/11/111404.html
* THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW Last month, Helen Chenoweth-Hage attempted to board a United Airlines flight from Boise to Reno when she was pulled aside by airline personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorized materials. Chenoweth-Hage, an ultra-conservative former Congresswoman (R-ID), requested a copy of the regulation that authorizes such pat-downs. "She said she wanted to see the regulation that required the additional
procedure for secondary screening and she was told that she couldn't see it,"
local TSA security director Julian Gonzales told the Idaho Statesman "She refused to go through additional screening [without seeing the regulation], and she was not allowed to fly," he said. "It's pretty simple." Chenoweth-Hage wasn't seeking disclosure of the internal criteria used for screening passengers, only the legal authorization for passenger pat-downs. Why couldn't they at least let her see that? asked Statesman commentator Dan Popkey. "Because we don't have to," Mr. Gonzales replied crisply. "That is called 'sensitive security information.' She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else," he said. Thus, in a qualitatively new development in U.S. governance, Americans can now be obligated to comply with legally-binding regulations that are unknown to them, and that indeed they are forbidden to know. This is not some dismal Eastern European allegory. It is part of a continuing transformation of American government that is leaving it less open, less accountable and less susceptible to rational deliberation as a vehicle for change. Harold C. Relyea once wrote an article entitled "The Coming of Secret
Law" (Government Information Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 2, Back in the 1980s when that article was written, secret law was still on the way. Now it is here. A new report from the Congressional Research Service describes with welcome
clarity how, by altering a few words in the Homeland Security Act, Congress
"significantly broadened" the government's authority to generate "sensitive
security information," The CRS report provides one analyst's perspective on how the secret regulations
comport or fail to comport with constitutional rights, such as the right to
travel and the right to due process. CRS does not make its reports directly
available to the public, but a See "Interstate Travel: Constitutional Challenges to the Identification Requirement and Other Transportation Security Regulations," Congressional Research Service, November 4, 2004: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32664.pdf Much of the CRS discussion revolves around the case of software designer and philanthropist John Gilmore, who was prevented from boarding an airline flight when he refused to present a photo ID. (A related case involving no-fly lists has been brought by the ACLU.) "I will not show government-issued identity papers to travel in my own country," Mr. Gilmore said. Mr. Gilmore's insistence on his right to preserve anonymity while traveling
on commercial aircraft is naturally debatable -- but the government will not
debate it. Instead, citing the statute on "sensitive security information,"
the Bush Administration says Further information on Gilmore v. Ashcroft, which is pending on appeal, may be found here: http://papersplease.org/gilmore/ TSA THREATENS TO ARREST LEAKERS Efforts by the Transportation Security Administration to investigate air marshals
for talking to the press or the public "were appropriate under the circumstances,"
the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General said last week, and did
not However, "air marshals from two locations said that they were threatened with arrest and prosecution if they were found to have released sensitive security information (SSI), even though release of SSI is not a prosecutable offense," the Inspector General said. In a related overstatement, Federal Air Marshal Service policy says that "employees
who release classified information or records in any form without authority
from the Classified Documents Custodian are in violation of United States Code
and are subject to But "We question the legal accuracy of this policy statement, which seems to criminalize all releases of classified information," the IG wrote. The unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a criminal offense only in certain narrowly defined circumstances. See "Review of Alleged Actions by TSA to Discipline Federal Air Marshals for Talking to the Press, Congress, or the Public," DHS Inspector General Audit Report, November 2004: http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dhs-ig-ssi.pdf
ATG: This is precisely what anti Patriot Act activists meant when they questioned the wording in the Patriot Act, passed by Congress and signed by the President. Terrorists can came into the country from Mexico, or Canada; illegal imigrants (terrorists?) are welcomed by the government and not screened or removed from planes, businesses, etc. American citizens are considered to be the enemy and receive harsh treatment - often being arrested - for even questioning why they are singled out, denied flights, dragged from their homes, arrested for speaking out.....And we call this America???? We are NOT being protected by the government........we are no longer safe in our own coumtry.!! And anyone who ignores this will soon find themselves at the top of the list.
|
\