Federal judge stays order, says detainees' names can be withheld
By The Associated Press
08.16.02
Editor's note: The Justice Department argued in papers filed Sept. 20 in federal appeals court that terrorists will be able to improve their plans of attack if the government is forced to release names of detainees rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks. Requiring disclosure will provide terrorist groups identities of those people the government has investigated, and "equally important, those whom it has not investigated in connection with the terrorist attacks," the department said. "This information can enable terrorist groups to alter their own plans, allow them to provide misinformation and undermine the usefulness of informants."
WASHINGTON — A federal judge says the government can continue to withhold the identities of those imprisoned in the Sept. 11 attacks until an appeal by the Bush administration is settled.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler yesterday issued a stay of her earlier order, giving the government lawyers additional time to appeal.
Kessler, on Aug. 2, gave the Justice Department 15 days to release the names, ruling the government had failed to prove the need for a blanket policy of secrecy for more than 1,200 people picked up since the attacks.
The government informed the court of its intention to appeal last week, arguing in documents that Kessler had missed the point about keeping the names secret.
Kessler rejected the government's contention that the terrorist group al-Qaida would be tipped to how much progress investigators had made if the detainees' names were released. She said al-Qaida already would be aware its operatives in the United States were missing.
Most of the people swept up by federal, state and local authorities after Sept. 11 have been deported. Apart from periodic updates on the number still held, the Justice Department has tried not to disclose information about the arrests.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for National Security Studies and others sued the government seeking the release of the names.
The government has said that between Sept. 11 and June 24, 752 people were arrested or detained on immigration charges. The others were arrested on various other charges.
In late June, the Justice Department reported at least 147 people still were being held, including 74 on charges involving immigration infractions. Prosecutors have not said how many people are being held as material witnesses.