Turf protection, political embarrassment and risk aversion are unacceptable reasons to block information sharing to local law enforcement
Washington, D.C. The Homeland Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment, chaired by Congresswoman Jane Harman (CA-36), unanimously reported two Harman bills (HR 6193 and HR 4806) to curb efforts by DHS to classify documents or stamp them with sensitive markings to prevent access to them by law enforcement and the public.
Said Harman, “For too long, DHS and other federal agencies have been able to block law enforcement and public access to information they need to prevent and prepare for attacks on the homeland. Turf protection, political embarrassment and risk aversion are unacceptable reasons to block information sharing.”
Today’s legislative mark-up followed a legislative hearing on HR 6193, the Improving Public Access to Documents (IPAD) Act. Witnesses in support of the bill represented the National Security Archive, OpenTheGovernment.org, and the ACLU.
The legislation was co-sponsored by Subcommittee Ranking Member Dave Reichert (R-WA) and 6 committee members, and was reported unanimously to the full Committee, along with two other bills. Full committee action is expected as early as next week.
HR 4806, the subject of hearings in 2007, requires portion marking (the identification of paragraphs in a document that are classified -- permitting the remainder of the document to remain unclassified) as well as training, limits on the number of people who can classify documents, audits and incentives to reduce classification.
HR 6193 relates to so-called “pseudo-classifications,” the subject of a new framework developed by the Director of National Intelligence. The legislation parallels the provisions of the declassification bill. In remarks at today’s legislative hearing, Harman said its intent is to make DHS the “gold standard” for implementing the new DNI framework and to reduce document protection categories from over 100 to 7.