Anti-secrecy groups unhappy with Obama

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By Eli Lake

Advocates for more open government who had hoped that the Obama administration would be less secretive than its predecessor say it is continuing to use executive privilege to block lawsuits over allegations of past abuses in the fight against terrorism.

A new report from OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of anti-secrecy groups, criticized the Obama administration's interpretation of the so-called "state secrets privilege." Under it, the Justice Department has argued that courts must dismiss national security cases challenging wiretapping and the transport of suspected terrorists to CIA and foreign jails, where they claim they were tortured.

The flap over the issue appears to be another example of Mr. Obama charting a relatively centrist path on issues regarding terrorism. Past CIA directors and some Republicans have criticized the president for disclosing information regarding harsh interrogation procedures and for allowing the Justice Department to reopen cases against CIA interrogators.

However, civil liberties groups argue that the Obama administration's interpretation of the state secrets privilege so far is the same as the George W. Bush administration's.

"This administration is continuing to use the enlarged executive powers of the Bush-Cheney administration," said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, who oversaw the report.

The group's steering committee includes many longtime advocates for more openness in government, including the Federation of American Scientists, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

According to the report, President Obama "deeply disappointed advocates who had hoped he would act quickly to rein in the abuse of the privilege to shut down litigation."

The report notes that in a recent case the Justice Department filed a friend of the court brief saying there was a basis in the Constitution for the state secrets privilege and that the Supreme Court had recognized this for the first time in 1953.

As both a candidate and as president, Mr. Obama opposed a broad interpretation of the privilege.

He told an April 29 news conference, "I actually think that the state secret doctrine should be modified. I think right now it's over-broad. But keep in mind, what happens is, we come into office; we're in for a week, and suddenly we've got a court filing that's coming up. And so we don't have the time to effectively think through what exactly should [an] overarching reform of that doctrine take. We've got to respond to the immediate case in front of us."