ACLU urges rejection of leak bill

The

American Civil Liberties Union is asking members and other concerned Americans to urge President Clinton to veto a bill that would make it a crime to leak sensitive or secretive government documents.

The bill — passed by Congress as part of an overall intelligence package — has been long sought by the CIA and other civilian and military intelligence branches. If signed into law, it would become a felony to release any government information classified as secret.

Clinton has until today to act on the measure. If he does nothing, the law will take effect on its own.

According to the ACLU, if the bill becomes law, “every newspaper story that relies on a leak of classified information to expose an abuse could be the basis of a criminal prosecution of the source of the leak.

“Reporters could be compelled by subpoena to reveal the source of the leak or go to prison if they refuse,” said an

ACLU “Action Alert.” The law would also make it a crime for any person with a security clearance to disclose classified information without authorization.

According to U.S. code, currently it is a violation of the law if sensitive information is released that endangers national security or covert intelligence agents. The ACLU said it is also already a crime to disclose the “names of covert agents, or national defense information with reason to believe that such disclosure could cause injury to the United States.”

But the organization maintains that most major newspapers and news organizations depend on some leaked but classified documents in order to maintain a reasonable check on government abuses, mistakes or criminal acts.

If passed, the law “would make it extremely difficult for the media to meet its obligation to inform the public of information vital to national debates on serious issues,” the ACLU said.

“The government should not be allowed to hide its mistakes, incompetence, political embarrassments, and even in some cases, criminal behavior,” said the alert. “This sweeping provision only serves to protect government incompetence and misconduct by threatening those who would expose it with a felony charge.”

The White House has been silent on whether Clinton planned to veto the measure. Many major national daily newspapers including the New York Times and Washington Post have sent communiqués to the Clinton administration urging the president to veto the bill.