The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today decided
to postpone action on a controversial bill that would have
given the executive branch unprecedented power to crack
down on alleged security leakers.
President Clinton vetoed the measure last year, and Senator
Richard C. Shelby of Alabama reintroduced it by attaching it
to a bill funding intelligence operations for 2001. Shelby
anticipated support from President Bush, but it was not
forthcoming. Shelby agreed to the postponement after it
became clear earlier today that the Bush administration would
not support the measure either.
A White House spokesman said "President Bush is extremely
concerned about leaks that do grave damage to national
security, but current laws already make it a crime to provide
many categories of classified information."
The most irresponsible provisions of the Shelby proposal
would allow the executive branch to expand the definition of
what constitutes classified information without any procedure
whatsoever, or any definition of classification, and make it
unnecessary for prosecutors to prove that an unauthorized
disclosure damaged national security.
The effect of this would be to give the executive branch the
power to arbitrarily decide, even retroactively, if a given
piece of information was 'classified.' Without needing to prove
anything more than an individual with a security
clearance had leaked it, prosecutors could gain a conviction.
The Administration has proposed that an interagency working
group; be set up to determine if a new law is needed. Both
Republicans and Democrats have expressed opposition to the
Shelby Bill, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep.
James Sensenbrenner (R. Wis.) has said that he would object
to the measure being attached to the House Intelligence
Authorization Bill this year.
One of the mysteries about this legislation is who is really
behind it. Shelby has the support of unnamed senators and,
presumably, elements within the intelligence community who
fear the gradual reduction of secrecy that has followed the
cold war, and want to put a stop to it. CIA Director George
Tenet, planned to emphasize his concerns about the
legislation at today's hearing.
Opinion: The White House and the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence were bombarded with protests about the
Shelby Bill, from people of all ideologies. Many of those
protests came from this website, based on our previous story
on this issue. Public protest played an important part in
scuttling a bill that was not just bad, but openly indifferent to
our cherished freedoms. If we need more protection against
leaks, it is to be hoped that the interagency working group
will author balanced legislation that respects our national
traditions.
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