From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@fas.org>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:28:04 -0400
Fwd Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2002 16:03:13 -0400
Subject: Secrecy News -- 06/28/02


SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2002, Issue No. 59
June 28, 2002


**	REPORTS ON MISSILE DEFENSE TESTS MANDATED
**	NEW RESOURCES ONLINE


REPORTS ON MISSILE DEFENSE TESTS MANDATED

The Senate yesterday responded to the Defense Department
decision to classify information about future missile defense
flight tests by requiring the Pentagon to provide a "thorough"
report to Congress on each test in both classified and
unclassified form.

"One can argue whether [the new secrecy policy] is truly needed,
since we are many years away from deployment of effective
national missile defense systems," said Senator Carl Levin,
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"What is not arguable is that Congress has a right and
obligation to know the results of such critical tests,
regardless of whether they are classified," Sen. Levin said.

"[Previous] criticism -- particularly by the scientific
community -- led the Missile Defense Agency to adopt a much more
realistic, thorough, and exhaustive test process for our missile
defense system," observed Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who co-
sponsored the new reporting requirement. "That criticism, in
effect, has been very helpful to the development of the national
missile defense. I think it is something that should be
encouraged -- certainly not discouraged."

See this excerpt from yesterday's Senate debate on the 2003
Defense Authorization Act:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2002/h062702.html


NEW RESOURCES ONLINE

Compilations of past judicial rulings in Freedom of Information
Act cases are gradually being published by the Justice
Department Office of Information and Privacy, including this set
of decisions from 1996 that was published today:

http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/2002foiapost14.htm

The General Accounting Office has published a June 26 report
entitled "Defense Space Activities: Status of Reorganization"
that provides a snapshot of the latest upheavals in military
space programs. See:

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/gao/gao02772r.pdf

This week the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held two
hearings on "The Relationship Between a Department of Homeland
Security and the Intelligence Community." Prepared statements
presented by governmental and non-governmental witnesses are
available here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/index.html#hs2

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/index.html#hs3


******************************
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:  www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@fas.org
voice: (202) 454-4691