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Biden should declassify Senate report on CIA torture program
The U.S. keeps too many secrets about its actions in the aftermath of 9/11. There’s no better example of this than the CIA’s torture program, which can trace its beginnings to a still-classified September 2001 memorandum of notification signed by President George W. Bush. This memo granted the agency “unprecedented authorities” to capture and detain suspected terrorists.
Our new Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper writes that the outgoing Biden administration should commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks by ordering the declassification of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s torture program. A fitting date for the declassification to be completed is Sept. 11, 2026 — the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Read more on our website and also check out Esquire’s piece discussing Harper’s article.
The dangers of overclassification
Truthout also interviewed Harper about the U.S. government’s overclassification problem.
“Information is improperly classified between 75 percent and 90 percent of the time,” Harper said. “This prevents information sharing — sometimes vital information — between agencies, with the public, and with Congress.” She also called for more reporting on excessive secrecy, saying it should be an “ongoing beat,” because “occasional reporting on specific examples of excessive secrecy is not enough to challenge that systemic tide.”
The bottom line, Harper explained, is that secrecy is a control mechanism, and one that prevents the public from basic self-governance. Read the full interview here.
Bill threatening nonprofit media advances
Earlier this year, Congress almost passed a bill that would allow the secretary of the treasury to deem any nonprofits “terrorist supporters” and revoke their tax status, with secret evidence and almost no due process.
Now they’re trying again. The bill passed the House Ways and Means Committee this week, after its supporters cynically packaged it with legislation to benefit American hostages and scheduled a vote on Sept. 11.
As Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) wrote last time this awful bill surfaced, the legislation is a serious threat to nonprofit media — especially outlets that criticize Israel. Democrats who claim to be concerned about authoritarianism should be particularly ashamed of themselves for empowering its proponents by supporting bills like this one. Tell your members of Congress not to let it become law.
California police must let journalists cover encampment sweeps
In recent weeks, police across California have threatened journalists with arrests for covering evictions of homeless encampments. It’s unclear why — the journalists aren’t interfering with the evictions. But they are documenting them, and clearly officers don’t want that.
We joined a coalition of over 20 press freedom and transparency organizations to warn authorities from Los Angeles to Sacramento that their own state law supplements constitutional protection of journalists’ right to access restricted areas where newsworthy events occur.
Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long line of press freedom violations by authorities in California. Read more on our website, and see the coalition statement here.
What we’re reading
America’s most secret spy agency now has a podcast (The Washington Post). The National Security Agency has released a podcast on its role in the Osama bin Laden raid. Does this mean the NSA has responded to all outstanding FOIA requests on bin Laden? Because it would be pretty unfortunate if the agency was able to supplant proper declassification with a PR stunt.
Israel says revoking press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists (AFP). It’s shameful that, after shutting down Al Jazeera's Israeli newsroom in May, Israel is now revoking its journalists’ press credentials. The U.S. should insist the press have full access to cover wars that it bankrolls.
FBI sued for withholding files on Assange And WikiLeaks (The Dissenter). Defending Rights and Dissent sued the FBI and Department of Justice over its secrecy regarding WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, which continued even after the unconstitutional prosecution of Assange concluded.
TikTok back in court as government does the ‘national security’ dance (The Washington Post). “The government says ‘national security’ is threatened” by TikTok, writes opinion columnist George Will. “A bigger threat, however, is the incessant use of that phrase to impart spurious urgency to agendas that are only tangentially, if at all, related to the nation’s safety.”
NYPD cracks down on The Post and free press as scandal surrounds Edward Caban (New York Post). “The increasingly authoritarian press office of the NYPD (does) not consider themselves taxpayer-funded servants of the people of Gotham, they are thin-skinned propagandists who spend their days lashing out at reporters on X.”
Come see us in London
We’re co-hosting Source! the London Logan Symposium with The Centre for Investigative Journalism on Nov. 14-15 in London, England. Hear from journalists from all over the world about press freedom issues and the challenges they face in protecting themselves and their sources. Register to attend here.
If London’s too far, find us on TikTok and Instagram
FPF is now live on Instagram and TikTok. Click the links to follow us and see our latest posts about press freedom.
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