Court Denies Office of Homeland Security Motion
Reuters
Friday 3 January 2003 07:45 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Office of Homeland Security lost a round in efforts to keep its activities private with a federal court ruling that it must answer questions about its operations and activities.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last week ruled that the White House office must show it had no independent authority in a ruling denying a motion to dismiss a privacy group's lawsuit seeking material under the Freedom of Information Act. The ruling was made public on Thursday.

The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center last March requested Office of Homeland Security records on proposals for standardized U.S. driver's licenses, records associated with a "trusted-flier" program and other proposals concerning biometric technology for identifying individuals.

The Office of Homeland Security sought to have the case against the office and its director Tom Ridge dismissed, arguing that it could not be subjected to the Freedom of Information Act information requests because it was not an agency and that its sole function was to advise and assist the president.

President Bush established a U.S. Department of Homeland Security in November and nominated Ridge to head the new Cabinet-level agency.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly's ruling granted the Electronic Privacy Information Center's request to obtain information that would establish the status of the White House Office of Homeland Security.

A White House spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, called the ruling a critical step in a case about "openness" in government.

"There's been a lot of secrecy in the activities of this office ... We think that the activity of this office, like the activity of other federal offices should be open," Rotenberg told Reuters.

"So many of the original plans, program goals and objectives were set out in the office," he said. "If you want to get a sense of what this new agency will do, we think it's important to see what its precursor did."

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)

Article originally posted at truthout.org

CFR Phase III Report on National Homeland Security Excerpts from and comments in case you aren't planning to read the full report: "Four years ago the Council on Foreign Relations began working on the restructuring of America's Constitutional framework of government, without regard for Constitutional parameters and ignoring the required process for amending the Constitution as specified in Article V." The Phase III Report of the U.S. Commission on National Security / 21st Century FINAL DRAFT REPORT - EMBARGOED UNTIL JAN. 31, 2001 -- Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change -January 31, 2001 This report will be posted in sections for easier reading and printing. The Commission started four years ago setting up the frame work and legislation for the Homeland Security Act, which has been passed to 'protect us from the terrorists'. The fox guarding the hen house in its purest form. - Jackie Section 1: List of Commissioners; Table of Contents; Foreword by Gary Heart and Warren Rudman; and Preface by Charles G. Boyd, General, USAF (Ret.) Executive Director Bush Signs Homeland Security Bill ABC News.Com 11-25-02: "The new Cabinet department — an idea Bush initially opposed — will swallow 22 existing agencies with combined budgets of about $40 billion and employ 170,000 workers, the most sweeping federal reorganization since the Defense Department's birth in 1947." The Homeland Security Act of 2002 The full text of the bill. (In pdf format.) Homeland Security Flow Chart From our Safety...at what cost? section Courtesy of the New York Times, view the game plan for government reorganization under the newly-created Office of Homeland Security. Kissinger: The Secret Side of our Secretary of State By Gary Allen, 1976 The author of None Dare Call It Conspiracy. He has earned his wings in heaven. This book goes way beyond the man, Kissinger, and takes us into the wheelings and dealings of the son-of-a-rabbi/Communist/KGB/Rockefeller/CFR agent Kissinger. READ IT! - Jackie Court Denies Office of Homeland Security Motion A federal court has ruled against the Office of Homeland Security in a "case that is a critical step about 'openness' in government." At issue was whether the Office of Homeland Security had to supply information that was requested, under the Freedom of Information Act. The Electronic Privacy Information Center had requested documents regarding plans for standardized drivers licenses, as well as other measures to be used to identify and profile people. Tom Ridge Confesses Terror Alerts Were Bogus Former Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said that Bush Regime officials forced him to elevate the "threat level" on what he calls "flimsy evidence," reports USA Today. Homeland Security | Issues index | CDR Home