www.ire.org
|
|
|
|
|
History
How we started, Bylaws, The Arizona Project, Endowment
|
Membership
Benefits,
How to Join, Find an Investigative Journalist, Listservs, Update Your Address
|
Training
Conferences,
Seminars,
Fellowships,
Training Materials |
Resource Center
20,000-plus
investigative stories,
2,000 Tipsheets, Reporting Guides, Beat Sources |
Broadcast Center
Videostreamed clips, IRE feeds, IRE videos |
Database Library
Government
database collection,
Data analysis |
Campaign Finance Information Center
Campaign Finance Database, Stories |
FOI Center
Columns, Awards, FOIA Database, Tipsheets |
The IRE Store
Books, Audio tapes, Databases,
Periodicals, IRE Logo Goods |
Job Center
Hot jobs in
journalism, latest
fellowships and
grants |
IRE Awards
Latest contest, Past winners,
How to enter |
Educators
IRE Journalism Educators'
Center |
IRE Board
Elected members,
Committees |
IRE Staff
Staff members,
Contacting us |
Privacy Policy
|
|
|
|
|
|
RECENT PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Aug. 19, 2003
Contact: Brant Houston, 573-882-2042
IRE SUPPORTS PUBLIC COMMENT ON HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION SHARING ACT
IRE has sent a letter to Tom Ridge, Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security, urging the agency to allow public comment about rules that may
restrict public access to information. The rules are being developed to
implement the Homeland Security Information Sharing Act.
Text of letter:
August 19, 2003
The Honorable Tom Ridge
Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
Dear Mr. Secretary:
The more than 5,000 members of Investigative Reporters and Editors ("IRE"), an association of investigative journalists at news media outlets across the country, urge the Department of Homeland Security to give the public ample opportunity to comment on any rulemaking that may restrict the public dissemination of "homeland security information," including information that is "sensitive but unclassified."
As you know, these procedures are being developed to implement the Homeland Security Information Sharing Act (HSISA). The Act was passed into law as Section VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 with the purported purpose of fostering the sharing of information among federal, state, and local officials about possible terrorism activities. The Act creates the need for rules balancing the needs of the Department of Homeland Security to gather information about homeland security information with the equally important need for public scrutiny of the Department.
The public's ability to remain informed of and, participate in, the decision-making of government is fundamental to the democratic process. No proper basis in law exists to exempt the Department of Homeland Security from application of these fundamental principles. Accordingly, procedures that implement Section VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 should be made only after a public process in which the many diverse stakeholders have been heard, and closure of information should be necessary only when a compelling reason exists for secrecy.
Public comment on the procedures implementing the Act is necessary because critical definitions and interpretations of legislative language remain to be made. IRE wishes to address the definition of Homeland Security Information (HSI) included in HSISA as a primary consideration. As written, the meaning of HSI is so broad and amorphous that it raises legitimate questions as to whether activities of government officials and the public that could have no meaningful connection with "terrorism" could be swept within the HSI heading.
What remains unclear, until implementing regulations are written and released, is whether these procedures would preclude public access to information that journalists and others members of the public currently obtain from, or with the assistance of, the government. They do this in order to make their communities safer, inform the public, and for other purposes protected by law.
It is also unclear whether the Department's procedures will require removal of information currently available from government sources. Information currently used by journalists and others on a daily basis - information that clearly has made us safer by subjecting governmental agencies to the rigors of investigative journalism - should remain public.
Procedures that remove information from the public domain merit widespread public discussion. The public should have an opportunity to address that question in a public notice-and-comment rulemaking and government policymakers should consider those answers in formulating the information sharing procedures.
The public has an interest in being informed of new procedures for sharing information that may infringe on the public's ability to obtain information from government about its activities. Since the procedures that are to be created will directly address the "safeguarding" of information and restrictions on public dissemination of information, the public should have the opportunity to review a draft version of these implementing procedures, analyze their adequacy and potential impact, and make recommendations for improvements, as necessary.
For the reasons set forth above, we request that the Department of Homeland Security provide the public with a period of sufficient length of time to review and comment upon a draft version of the procedures before they are finalized.
Sincerely,
Brant Houston
Executive Director
Cc: IRE First Amendment Committee
|
