Once I was professionally working in an arena that was as top secret as you
can
get. I was a free lance talent scout for hard to fill engineering management
positions on the highest cleared military projects. Once I was paid $23,000
by
NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL for recruiting a top person from a Washington D.C.
Military Engineering Think Tank for ROCKWELL'S top liaison to the SDIO office.
George Jeffs, the president of NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL gave me my marching
orders.
Being rather inquisitive, I decided to see how deeply I could penetrate into
the
tight community of those who enjoyed the ENERGY DEPARTMENT's Q rating. As a
technical recruiter I found that I could call these Q men any day of the week
and
probe for hours their deepest motivations. The deepest spook interest then
was
in emerging technology called IMAGE PROCESSING. So I became acquainted with
the
dozen top image processors in the nation.
I came to the conclusion that there are few secrets that can be protected.
Scientists know all the secrets. Secrets protect crime and incompetence. It
is
always the criminals and the incompetent that promote secrets.
Brian
dawnstar wrote:
> Sarah Shrode wrote:
> >
> > Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000
> >
> > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> >
> > Contacts:
> > Ray Marcano, SPJ Board president, 937/225-2323 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Al Cross, SPJ Board president-elect, 502/875-5136, ext. 14 or
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Ian Marquand, SPJ FOI Committee chairman, 406/542-4400 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > SOCIETY URGES CLINTON TO VETO LEGISLATION THAT WOULD TIGHTEN DISCLOSURE OF
> > CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
> >
> > INDIANAPOLIS - The Society of Professional Journalists has asked President
> > Clinton to block legislation to tighten security on government
information.
> >
> > The Society, along with 13 other organizations, signed a letter that was
> > sent to the White House. The letter, drafted by OMB Watch, asks Clinton to
> > veto Section 304 of H.R. 4392 "Prohibition on Unauthorized Disclosure of
> > Classified Information" because of its threat to the First Amendment and
> > the public's right to know.
> >
> > "This is clearly nothing more than heavy-handed attempted to stop the
> > disclosure of critical information by vaguely labeling it classified,"
said
> > Ray Marcano, SPJ Board president and regional editor at the Dayton Daily
> > News. "The public's right to know would be severely hampered by this
> > proposed law, and we urge President Clinton to take immediate action to
> > stop it."
> >
> > President Clinton has until Saturday to make his decision. The letter the
> > Society signed asks the president to veto or, at the very least, hold back
> > the legislation one year because of its "profound First Amendment
> > implications."
> >
> > The bill, requested by the Central Intelligence Agency and drafted, in
> > part, by the Justice Department, calls for a broader definition of
> > "classified information," stricter penalties for government employees who
> > discuss classified information and a requirement that government employees
> > must seek advance permission before disclosing information not marked as
> > classified.
> >
> > The New York Times reported Tuesday that the bill's author, Rep. Porter J.
> > Goss, R-Fla., said the legislation should have been drafted more
carefully.
> >
> > "While reasonable people may disagree on the issue being raised here, it
is
> > such an important issue that it deserves more thoughtful consideration
than
> > Congress appears to have given it so far," said Al Cross, SPJ Board
> > president-elect and political columnist and reporter for The (Louisville,
> > Ky.) Courier-Journal.
> >
> > Ian Marquand, SPJ's Freedom of Information Committee chairman said the
> > legislation deserves a veto for more than one reason.
> >
> > "First, even some of Rep. Goss's fellow Republicans have called it an
> > 'Official Secrets Act,' something we have rejected in this country, said
> > Marquand, special projects coordinator for the Montana Television Network.
> > "Second, the process which created it was flawed. The bill received no
> > public hearings and was approved through some questionable procedural
> > tactics.
> >
> > "Not to mention that criminalizing the passage of information to a
> > journalist means greater risk that the hand of government might fall hard
> > on that journalist as well as the agency employee," Marquand added.
> >
> > Organizations joining the Society and OMB Watch in signing the letter of
> > opposition include the Society's Washington D.C. Professional Chapter, the
> > California First Amendment Coalition, the First Amendment Foundation, the
> > Government Accountability Project, the National Newspaper Association, the
> > American Library Association, the Fund for Constitutional Government,
> > Information Trust, the National Coordinating Committee for the
Preservation
> > of History, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the American Society
> > of Newspaper Editors, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and
> > Florida Atlantic University.
> >
> > The complete letter sent to the White House will be posted on www.spj.org.
> > To read the full text of Section 304 of H.R. 4392, log on to
> > http://thomas.loc.gov/ and type HR4392 in the "Search by bill number"
> > field.
> >
> > The Society of Professional Journalists works to improve and protect
> > journalism. The organization is the nation's largest and most broad-based
> > journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of
> > journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. Founded in
> > 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital
to
> > a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next
generation
> > of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of
> > speech and press.
> >
> > -END-
> >
> > Sarah A. Shrode
> > SPJ Communications Director
> > Society of Professional Journalists
> > Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Center
> > 3909 N. Meridian St.
> > Indianapolis, IN 46208-4011
> > (317) 927-8000 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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