[Sigifp-l] Homeland Security and Freedom of Information Laws

[TAMaxwell at aol.com]

Folks--

The proposed Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HR 5005), which was reported out 
of committee on July 12th, contains a provision (Section 204) that would 
exempt information on infrastructure vulnerabilities voluntarily provided to 
the Department of Homeland Security from FOI disclosure rules.  Information 
watchdog groups like EPIC (www.epic.org/security/infowar/07_02testimony.html) 
have stated that such a blanket exemption would shield government agencies 
from citizen oversight, and keep us from learning when the government knew 
about specific threats, should incidents occur.

What do you think?  Should issues related to information infrastructure be 
exempt from public disclosure, or should the public be made aware of 
intrastructure weaknesses so they can press for remediation?

Terry Maxwell