Transparency News 9/30/14
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
State and Local Stories
Associated Press
Under the prevailing information policies of the Central Intelligence Agency, even some well-known public facts, such as the price of a popular personal computer, may be withheld from public disclosure. “We bought our first Commodore Amiga in 1987 for less than [price redacted] including software,” according to a paper entitled “NPIC, Amiga, and Videotape” from the CIA journal Studies in Intelligence. It was among hundreds of papers posted online this month in response to a FOIA lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Scudder. The redacted Amiga price figure is marked “(b)(3)(c)”, signifying that the information is being withheld under The CIA Act of 1949, by which CIA may withhold information about the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency. But is the cost of a publicly available consumer item like the Commodore Amiga computer properly subject to this exemption? A CIA information management official did not respond to an inquiry on the subject from Secrecy News.
Secrecy News
Documents released by the U.S. government show it views an executive order issued in 1981 as the basis of most of the National Security Agency's surveillance activities, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Monday. The NSA relied on Executive Order 12333 more than it did on two other laws that have been the focus of public debate following the leaks exposing U.S. surveillance programs by former agency contractor Edward Snowden, according to the papers released by the ACLU. The ACLU obtained the documents after filing a lawsuit last year seeking information in connection with the order, which it said the NSA was using to collect vast amounts of data worldwide, "inevitably" including communications of U.S. citizens.
Reuters
Virginian-Pilot
Closed meetings of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors have been much in the news lately. Two supervisors, Joe “Butch” Church, I-Catawba, and Al Bedrosian, R-Hollins, have refused to participate in any more concerning the hiring of a county administrator.
I’m a nosy cur who’s even more opposed to closed government meetings than they are. For that reason, the last time all five supervisors held one, I sneaked into the room beforehand and planted a bug. Later, when I played the tape, this is what I heard.
Dan Casey, Roanoke Times (satire)
State and Local Stories
The Richmond City Council wants to look at ways to ramp up its own resources to be a more effective legislative body, which could involve adding staff or making council service pay a full-time salary. That was the main idea discussed at the council’s annual planning retreat Monday, where the body considered ordering a study of how the council works compared to similar localities and how it could be improved.
Times-Dispatch
National Stories
Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, are charging nearly 10 times the cost of some of their own employees' salaries before they will agree to turn over files under public records lawsabout the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The move discourages journalists and civil rights groups from investigating the shooting and its aftermath. And it follows dozens of records requests to Ferguson under the state's Sunshine Law, which can offer an unvarnished look into government activity. The city has demanded high fees to produce copies of records that, under Missouri law, it could give away free if it determined the material was in the public's interest to see. Instead, in some cases, the city has demanded high fees with little explanation or cost breakdown. In one case, it billed The Associated Press $135 an hour — for nearly a day's work — merely to retrieve a handful of email accounts since the shooting. That fee compares with an entry-level, hourly salary of $13.90 in the city clerk's office, and it didn't include costs to review the emails or release them. The AP has not paid for the search.Associated Press
Under the prevailing information policies of the Central Intelligence Agency, even some well-known public facts, such as the price of a popular personal computer, may be withheld from public disclosure. “We bought our first Commodore Amiga in 1987 for less than [price redacted] including software,” according to a paper entitled “NPIC, Amiga, and Videotape” from the CIA journal Studies in Intelligence. It was among hundreds of papers posted online this month in response to a FOIA lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Scudder. The redacted Amiga price figure is marked “(b)(3)(c)”, signifying that the information is being withheld under The CIA Act of 1949, by which CIA may withhold information about the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency. But is the cost of a publicly available consumer item like the Commodore Amiga computer properly subject to this exemption? A CIA information management official did not respond to an inquiry on the subject from Secrecy News.
Secrecy News
Documents released by the U.S. government show it views an executive order issued in 1981 as the basis of most of the National Security Agency's surveillance activities, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Monday. The NSA relied on Executive Order 12333 more than it did on two other laws that have been the focus of public debate following the leaks exposing U.S. surveillance programs by former agency contractor Edward Snowden, according to the papers released by the ACLU. The ACLU obtained the documents after filing a lawsuit last year seeking information in connection with the order, which it said the NSA was using to collect vast amounts of data worldwide, "inevitably" including communications of U.S. citizens.
Reuters
Editorials/Columns
Portsmouth City Council members appear desperate to blame someone for the scrutiny and negative attention surrounding the city auditor's lack of productivity. Everyone, that is, but the people actually responsible. A secret recording of a recent closed council session shows several members, including Mayor Kenny Wright and member Danny Meeks, pointing their fingers at this newspaper. They would do well to put down the paper and pick up a mirror; it provides a clearer picture of who's at fault for employing an auditor who hasn't completed an audit in nearly 18 months. Members of the City Council - most of whom have refused to discuss the matter in public - had no such trouble in secret.Virginian-Pilot
Closed meetings of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors have been much in the news lately. Two supervisors, Joe “Butch” Church, I-Catawba, and Al Bedrosian, R-Hollins, have refused to participate in any more concerning the hiring of a county administrator.
I’m a nosy cur who’s even more opposed to closed government meetings than they are. For that reason, the last time all five supervisors held one, I sneaked into the room beforehand and planted a bug. Later, when I played the tape, this is what I heard.
Dan Casey, Roanoke Times (satire)
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