A former Central Intelligence Agency employee, Thomas Waters Jr., filed a lawsuit against the Agency last week, arguing that publication of his book had been improperly blocked in the prepublication review process.
“The Central Intelligence Agency has unlawfully imposed a prior restraint upon Thomas Waters by obstructing and infringing on his right to publish his unclassified memoirs and threatening him with civil and criminal penalties,” according to the March 3 complaint (pdf) filed in DC District Court.
The case seems to reflect the tightening of controls on public disclosure of information at the CIA.
Almost all of Waters’ manuscript had been cleared for publication by the CIA in September 2004, according to the complaint (pdf). But last month, the Agency notified him that substantial portions of the book, including some material that had previously been approved, could not be published after all.
“The CIA continues to deliberately create a hostile environment for its former employees who are seeking to do nothing other than publish nonsensitive, unclassified information,” said Mark S. Zaid, Waters’ attorney. “Its actions are completely unconstitutional and designed to disable the First Amendment.”
See also “CIA Sued Over Right to Publish” by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, March 6.
March 7th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Congress really needs to legislate in this area. This may result in vetoes but who knows. If the USA is to remain a representative democracy the only fact that ensures it is a democracy is the “public’s right to know”. To my memory the right to classify is vested in the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, and the so-called judicially recognized “State Secrets” privilege. Both can be modified by Congress in legislation and oversight on these issues and classification standards are long overdue.
March 8th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I’m no less troubled by this information, in the Washington Post this morning. Seems that information is going in the wrong direction, or rather, that we are willingly ceding information to politicians, government, and corporations even as they are becoming more secretive and autocratic.
March 9th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
I agree with the screening of the book. I also feel that each applicant for any position in the CIA must sign a legal contract forbidding them to disclose any information garnered while in training.
This is not about Freedom of Speech, or Freedom of Information, but about putting the lives of Covert Agents working in the field at risk . Most, if not all, are working in Hostile environments.
The Author of the book is bitter at not having been chosen for Covert Field work. He has, in his manuscript, revealed tactics and manners of training which put all Covert Agents in harms way.
It is nothing more than a “blueprint” for identifying agents in the field.