GOV’T WEBSITES YANKED

Knowledge is the enemy. And the Web is his ally.
That’s the clear-cut message the Bush administration is sending. Across the government, previously public information is being taken off-line, Secrecy News shows. Here are three of the most recent examples:

- The influential Defense Science Board has removed its list of members. A spokesman cited post-9/11 security regulations as the reason. “He didn’t explain how deleting the names of corporate CEOs and others who advise the government on defense policy was likely to increase security against terrorism,” Secrecy News notes. (You can find the Board members’ names here.)
– The online Center for Army Lessons Learned has been taken down, after the Washington Post reported on an “unusually blunt” report from the website on the inadequacies of U.S. military intelligence in Iraq.
– The White House is preventing Google and other search engines from locating key documents on its website. Files referring to Iraq seem to be particularly verboten.

Two weeks ago, some of the country’s top current and former spies blasted the Bushies for their penchant for secrecy.
Rich Haver — until recently Donald Rumsfeld’s special assistant for intelligence — said, “It’s causing a total meltdown of our intelligence processes.“
THERE’S MORE: Phil Carter notes that a copy of the Iraq after-action report can be found here.
AND MORE: The White House has changed its website policies, and search engines can now access the entire site.

October 28th, 2003 | Cloak and Dagger | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.