U.S. Senate Bill Would Exempt Some Imagery from Disclosure

摘要

A provision in the Senate version of the 2005 defense authorization bill would shield the most revealing imagery collected for the U.S. government by future commercial satellites from a key federal disclosure law. The measure, added to the bill at the behest of the Department of Defense, would exempt imagery available exclusively to the government under current U.S. licensing rules from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure requests. "Compelled release of such data and imagery by the United States under FOIA defeats the purpose of [exclusive] licensing agreements, removes any profit motive, and may damage the national security by mandating disclosure to the general public upon request," said the report accompanying the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005.