Comments on: Intel Budget Disclosure and the Myths of Secrecy http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html Secrecy News from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:31:30 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Jerry http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html/comment-page-1#comment-2126 Jerry Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:49:22 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2056#comment-2126 Steven, I have been getting and appreciating your Secrecy News. Even old Republicans like me feel the same as you do about Open Government. I would like to comment that it is too soon to attack Senator Stevens. He was convicted yesterday and has not yet been sentenced. There is a good probability that this trial itself had significant errors and might be overturned and a new trial ordered. In actuality I personally believe that Stevens is and was complicit in the charges and a clean trial should prove that. I have worked with older people for some time and in fact I am two months and four days older than John McCain. If a person has any negative traits at all, and we all do, then the likelihood of those traits being magnified with age are very great. If Stevens were financially careful all of his life, then as he got older and at 80+ that is older, he could have wanted things for 'free.' If that is true, then he should have left the Senate a long time ago. If he is suffering from age related dementia in any stage, he should leave public life. What I am saying is that is it venality or is it senility? Steven,

I have been getting and appreciating your Secrecy News. Even old Republicans like me feel the same as you do about Open Government. I would like to comment that it is too soon to attack Senator Stevens. He was convicted yesterday and has not yet been sentenced. There is a good probability that this trial itself had significant errors and might be overturned and a new trial ordered. In actuality I personally believe that Stevens is and was complicit in the charges and a clean trial should prove that. I have worked with older people for some time and in fact I am two months and four days older than John McCain. If a person has any negative traits at all, and we all do, then the likelihood of those traits being magnified with age are very great. If Stevens were financially careful all of his life, then as he got older and at 80+ that is older, he could have wanted things for ‘free.’ If that is true, then he should have left the Senate a long time ago. If he is suffering from age related dementia in any stage, he should leave public life.

What I am saying is that is it venality or is it senility?

]]> By: Steven Aftergood http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html/comment-page-1#comment-2121 Steven Aftergood Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:39:30 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2056#comment-2121 Mike, I don't think it's so thin. When the DNI speaks of his responsibility to protect intelligence sources and methods, he cites the National Security Act -- a statute enacted by Congress. And no court in over fifty years has ruled that the Atomic Energy Act is unconstitutional on grounds that it improperly intervenes in the executive branch classification process. So (constitutional interpretation aside) I think it would be inaccurate as a practical matter to say that classification policy is exclusively an executive function. On the other hand, I tend to agree that current defects in classification policy could best be corrected by an enlightened executive rather than by legislative mandate. Mike, I don’t think it’s so thin. When the DNI speaks of his responsibility to protect intelligence sources and methods, he cites the National Security Act — a statute enacted by Congress. And no court in over fifty years has ruled that the Atomic Energy Act is unconstitutional on grounds that it improperly intervenes in the executive branch classification process. So (constitutional interpretation aside) I think it would be inaccurate as a practical matter to say that classification policy is exclusively an executive function. On the other hand, I tend to agree that current defects in classification policy could best be corrected by an enlightened executive rather than by legislative mandate.

]]> By: Mike http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html/comment-page-1#comment-2120 Mike Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:21:52 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2056#comment-2120 Thanks, Steve. Interesting answer, but I think rather thin. The "necessary and proper" clause refers only to the previously listed powers, and classification policy isn't one of them. Courts have generally deferred to the executive on this. And nothing you list trumps the initial sentence of Article II. While we do need some better management of classification policy I have always considered that it had to come from the Executive. Thanks, Steve. Interesting answer, but I think rather thin. The “necessary and proper” clause refers only to the previously listed powers, and classification policy isn’t one of them. Courts have generally deferred to the executive on this. And nothing you list trumps the initial sentence of Article II.
While we do need some better management of classification policy I have always considered that it had to come from the Executive.

]]> By: Steven Aftergood http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html/comment-page-1#comment-2119 Steven Aftergood Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:35:09 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2056#comment-2119 Mike, In a nutshell, a shared congressional role in classification policy making is supported by: --the enactment of classification controls in the Atomic Energy Act; --the enactment of declassification standards in the Assassination Records Review Act; --the Necessary and Proper clause in article I of the Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to "make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces." Mike,

In a nutshell, a shared congressional role in classification policy making is supported by:

–the enactment of classification controls in the Atomic Energy Act;
–the enactment of declassification standards in the Assassination Records Review Act;
–the Necessary and Proper clause in article I of the Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to “make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.”

]]> By: Mike http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html/comment-page-1#comment-2118 Mike Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:28:37 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2056#comment-2118 <i>But Congress shares responsibility for defining the terms of the classification system.</i> Steven, what citation do you use to support that statement? But Congress shares responsibility for defining the terms of the classification system.

Steven, what citation do you use to support that statement?

]]> By: Publius http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/budget_disclosure.html/comment-page-1#comment-2117 Publius Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:43:37 +0000 http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2056#comment-2117 "The notion of a “slippery slope” resulting from disclosure of the top-line budget figure has been asserted for decades even by officials who are not convicted felons." Ad hominem attacks such as these serve little purpose to make your argument. Despite the veracity of the article I now have to question the author's intent. “The notion of a “slippery slope” resulting from disclosure of the top-line budget figure has been asserted for decades even by officials who are not convicted felons.”

Ad hominem attacks such as these serve little purpose to make your argument. Despite the veracity of the article I now have to question the author’s intent.

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