White House seeks delay on 'official secrets act'

摘要

Following signals from the Bush administration that it's not ready to support legislation to criminalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by federal employees, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence called off a long-scheduled September 5 hearing on the controversial measure. The Washington Post reported September 5 that the bill's author, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), agreed to the postponement after Attorney General John Ashcroft asked for more time to study the issue. A White House spokesman told the Post the administration is still "reviewing whether a new criminal statute is needed." The administration suggested that the hearing be replaced by the formation of an interagency working group to determine whether a new law is necessary to stop leaks. The measure, which opponents call the country's first official secrets act, is a provision in the intelligence authorization bill currently before committee. Identical legislation was passed by Congress last year only to be vetoed by President Clinton (AL, Dec. 2000, p. 10); Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), the committee chair, supported that bill. The American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries wrote Sen. Graham August 31 to oppose the legislation. The letter calls the leaks proposal overly broad and fears it "woulddiminish the public's right-to-know and raise First Amendment implications by discouraging dissent and disclosure of governmental misconduct." The library groups requested post-ponement of the hearing on the provision and called for a public debate on the measure; the previous bill was approved with little debate and no public hearings, and opponents claim the bill's backers plan the same approach this year. They also asked that the measure be proposed as a stand-alone bill rather than a provision attached to a larger bill.