Congress passes bill expanding penalties for classified leaks
By The Associated Press
10.13.00
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WASHINGTON — Congress has voted to expand criminal penalties for
government employees leaking secrets in a move critics warn could stifle the
ability of whistle-blowers and the media to get information to the public.
But congressional intelligence committee leaders, backed by the
Justice Department, said the tough measure was needed to stop the flow of
classified information that may undermine national security and jeopardize
lives.
Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House intelligence panel,
said the provision, part of a bill to fund intelligence agencies, was "narrowly
crafted to protect the rights that all Americans hold dear. It is not, as some
will say, an affront to the First Amendment."
Current law makes it a felony to harm national security by leaking
classified defense material. The new measure, authored by Senate Intelligence
Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., would subject government employees
to up to three years in prison for willfully disclosing nearly any classified
information.
The House and Senate both passed the intelligence bill by voice
yesterday, and President Clinton is expected to sign it. The bill, House
Resolution 4392, funds 11 intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the
National Security Agency, in fiscal 2001. The total budget is not made public,
but it is believed to be about $30 billion.
Attorney General Janet Reno last June endorsed the new criminal
penalties as a deterrent to leaking, while acknowledging a "fine line between a
free press able to publish and encourage public debate and how we protect the
national security."
She said federal prosecutors would not bring charges against news
reporters or those who inadvertently reveal classified material.
But Reps. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a liberal member of the intelligence
committee and Bob Barr, R-Ga., a leading conservative, said the provision
constituted the nation's first official secrets act. "It would silence
whistle-blowers in a way that has never before come before this body," Barr
said.
Pelosi said even members of Congress could face felony charges for
revealing classified information.
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for
Freedom of the Press, said the measure would lead to more journalists being
subpoenaed and possibly jailed for not revealing sources, and to a decline in
public interest stories written "because somebody in the government had the
guts to leak something."
Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor at The
News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., and chairman of the
American Society of Newspaper Editors' freedom-of-information committee, warned
that the measure might encourage the government to classify more information.
"Do you trust every government official to make a judgment of what is
classified? History shows that that is not a good thing."
The provision also caused a jurisdictional dispute between the
intelligence committees and the heads of the House Judiciary Committee, who
said writing new criminal penalties into law was their responsibility.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., and ranking Democrat
John Conyers of Michigan, in a letter to Goss, said "this extension would grant
the administration a blank check to criminalize any leaking they do not
like."
Conyers said yesterday that the measure would "scare the bejesus out
of whistle-blowers" and that past revelations, such as the CIA's support of the
1973 coup in Chile or Nixon's support of Pakistan in its 1971 war with India,
would have led to criminal prosecution.
Update
News organizations urge Clinton to veto classified-leaks bill
Critics say proposal would in effect create an 'official secrets act,' warn it could silence whistleblowers, stop media from getting information to the public.
11.02.00
Previous
Reno backs criminal penalties for 'life-threatening' leaks of classified data
But attorney general balks at criminalizing accidental leaks or going after news reporters who receive leaked information.
06.15.00
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