Panelists gave their differing viewpoints of "Homeland Security: Impact of Policy Changes on Government Information Access," the theme of the 2002 Federal Library and Information Center Committee Forum, at the Library on March 19.
The forum also featured two keynote speakers, Rep. Thomas Davis (R-Va.) and Viet Dinh, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy in the Justice Department.
The afternoon panel featured June Daniels, senior systems analyst, Foreign Affairs Systems Integration Program, Department of State; Francis Buckley, superintendent of documents, Government Printing Office (GPO); and Kurt Molholm, administrator, Defense Technical Information Center. - Robin Hatziyannis
In his introductory remarks, Associate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb noted that, since September 11, government agencies have changed their Web sites, FOIA practices, access to their buildings, "and perhaps even their publishing practices" to tighten information security.
The USA Patriot Act modifies some of the privacy protections that limited use of personal information collected by the government. In addition, he said, "government leaders have supported greater scrutiny in the releasing of government information to the public, while acknowledging that information sharing within the government, among the various agencies, is of vital importance to the national security."
Tabb posed the pertinent question of the day: "How should federal libraries and information centers respond to these changes while continuing to fulfill their mission to provide quality information for the government and from the government?"
A morning panel on agency initiatives featured Patrice McDermott, assistant director, Office of Government Relations, American Library Association; Nancy Blair, chief librarian, U.S. Geological Survey Library and U.S. Geological Survey Security Task Force; and W. Russell Neuman, senior policy analyst, Technology Division, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President.
Patrice McDermott
Formerly of OMB Watch, Patrice McDermott said she was encouraged that
not all agencies had removed material from their Web sites and that
only one item had been withdrawn from federal depository libraries.
"The sky may be sagging badly in a few places, but it is not falling,"
she said. "We need to parse out our response carefully and thoughtfully."
She gave several examples of how abruptly access to information changed after last September and warned that "powerful industry forces have been trying for years to prevent public access to regulatory information they submit to agencies because it usually shows them in a bad light. The regulatory agencies were among the very first to take information down."
McDermott asked federal librarians to remember that although the public trusts the government to protect public interests, the public should hold the government accountable as well. "Who watches the watchers? Whose interests are being protected when information is withheld from the public?" she asked.
"The really scary part is that we don't know how much information has been removed. This stems from the vast amount of information available. If we had good inventories of Web sites, we would know what had been removed. But we do not have inventories of the information so we do not know if agencies have cataloged what is removed or if they are preserving it," she said.
"The events of September 11 have caused us to revisit some of our assumptions about openness and easy accessibility of government information. We need to hold our principles firmly in hand as we do that revisiting."
Nancy Blair
Nancy Blair discussed press coverage that the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) received after withdrawing its CD-ROM title, "Source Area
Characteristics of Large Public Surface-Water Supplies in the Conterminous
United States: An Information Resource for Source-Water Assessment,
1999," soon after September 11. She said this single publication
received more attention than any other government Web site or report
that was withdrawn as a security precaution. "When our CD-ROM title
was removed from depository, the information content was not destroyed,"
she added.
Blair said USGS will not attempt to retrieve widely distributed documents, but will take into consideration new directives relating to security concerns before releasing new scientific information or updating old releases.
In early October, USGS set up an Operations Center for Homeland Security Activities to respond to the large number of inquiries being received. A USGS committee developed guidelines, "USGS Product Access and Distribution Guidance," by which scientific teams could evaluate releases of science information in the light of security concerns.
W. Russell Neuman
Representing the Bush administration's point of view, W. Russell Neuman
said it was time to consider two slogans and two memos. He reminded
the audience of the World War II adage "silence means security" and
its corresponding phrase "loose lips sink ships." He then asked the
audience to think about the slogan "information wants to be free."
"I want to ask you to think about the character of information during the Second World War and the issue of war on terrorism that characterizes the new world of today," Neuman said. "The irony of comparing ‘silence means security' and ‘information needs to be free' is important for us as we struggle with the balancing act of policies and procedures."
Neuman reported that the President's chief of staff, Andrew Card, soon will circulate a memo dealing with the specific issue of information related to weapons of mass destruction. The memo is intended to remind agencies of existing authority and policy already in place.
He said a second memo, expected in May, "will address the more difficult and nuanced subject of critical infrastructure protection. Here we need to address existing policy to see if is adequate to meet the needs of security."
June Daniels
June Daniels described the State Department as "the department of diplomacy …
so we guard our tongues at all levels."
She reported on the Overseas Presence Interagency Collaboration/KM System that she has helped develop to improve interagency communications. This project was launched in response to U.S. embassy bombings in August 1998, and it was accelerated by the events of September 11.
She said a State Department review of these terrorist attacks found that the lack of common interagency infrastructure made information exchange difficult. "September 11 has made us restrict information sharing with the public, but it has created a boon for sharing information between agencies," she said. All the agencies present overseas need to be able to work together, she added.
To enable overseas posts to send and receive the information they need to secure U.S. interests, the Overseas Presence Interagency Collaboration/KM System will integrate commercial, off-the-shelf-software and will include advanced search capabilities, Internet services, common directories, e-mail, and Web pages.
Daniels said this project is "not about the technology but about cultural change. Knowledge management and knowledge sharing [represent] a cultural change at State. We need to get people to know that sharing information is real power and can help get work done," she said.
Francis Buckley
Francis Buckley, who administers the Federal Depository Library Program
(FDLP) and GPO Access, opened his remarks with a quotation from the
18th-century author and lexicographer, Samuel Johnson: "Integrity
without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity
is dangerous and dreadful."
Buckley said, "Without free access to knowledge, the integrity of our nation and its citizens would be ‘weak and useless' indeed. However, recent events have demonstrated just how ‘dangerous and dreadful' that same knowledge can be when it is not coupled with integrity."
He said GPO's continuing challenge is to be as inclusive as possible, to identify public-interest materials for publication by GPO or agency publishers, to provide bibliographic control for the materials, and to provide the publications to depository libraries for public access.
"Post 9-11, that mission has not changed, but agency sensitivity to what should be distributed to the public is heightening," he noted. "There are no specific guidelines or criteria to determine what nonclassified information the agency has published, or may publish in the future, in tangible or online formats, should be withheld from the public as administrative or official use only in the interest of national security," said Buckley.
Kurt Molholm
Kurt Molholm said the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) is
the central repository for defense acquisition, scientific, and technical
information for bona fide users. "DTIC is DoD's [Department of Defense's]
front door to information resources through the Internet, its door
to controlled information resources through its Intranets, and its
content repository and information processor," he said.
A registration process makes DoD's information release and dissemination process work efficiently, Molholm said. "Establishing an agreement before the fact on what information can be provided, and establishing accountability and authority for release speeds the release process." In addition, each technical document receives a distribution statement that limits its distribution.
For electronic resources, DTIC has established the Lightweight Data Access Protocol (LDAP) and set up a Web-based registration system for users. "This system allows us to provide access to limited-access Web sites and reduce the burden on system administrators," said Molholm. "Because DTIC and others share the LDAP single-user database, content owners can manage user groups while users have just one password to access diverse Web sites."
In direct response to the events of last September, DTIC has acquired documents on homeland defense and topics related to the war on terrorism and identified pertinent older documents for digitizing. DTIC has also launched its Defend America and Current Focus Web sites, which are secure and accessible only to authorized users. Both offer authoritative information resources screened by subject matter experts and encrypted for transmission. "Current Focus has reduced thousands of unscreened materials to a selected few links and documents to provide users specialized information support service," said Molholm.
Peter Swire
Peter Swire, a visiting professor of law at George Washington University
Law School, examined "Changes in Privacy Policies in the Interest
of National Security." He discussed his experience as President Clinton's
chief counselor for privacy, 1999-2000, and reviewed privacy laws
adopted since 1970.
"The first wave of privacy activity was in response to the rise of the mainframe computer," Swire said. "The Fair Credit Report Act and the Privacy Act of the 1970s were designed to develop fair information practices of notice, choice, access, security, and accountability." The second wave of activity resulted from having mainframe capabilities on a laptop or desktop computer along with the development of the Internet. "Data transfers are now free, instant and global. How do we respond to more databases and more transfers?" asked Swire.
He reviewed the Clinton administration's support of privacy policies to protect children and medical and financial data.
He also gave a detailed review of the history and current status of wiretapping and surveillance laws. The Clinton administration had proposed updating these laws for the Internet age, and a 15-agency working group was discussing related issues. Then, in response to the events of September 11, the USA Patriot Act made sweeping changes.
Introduced less than a week after the attacks last fall, the new laws included nationwide "trap and trace" provisions that make one court order effective nationwide. Swire questioned the impact of these laws on the rights of privacy, including the privacy rights of library users.
He also looked at the new laws that allow law enforcement officers to "surf behind" an Internet user. Previously, an Internet service provider (ISP) could monitor its own system, but it could not invite law enforcement into the system to catch those involved in criminal acts. "The new laws allow the FBI to ask an ISP to invite it in and then camp at the ISP permanently," Swire said. "I am concerned that there was never a hearing on this matter in Congress. It also has no time limit and no reporting requirement."
A greater focus on cyber security since September 11 and the need to protect critical infrastructure have led to greater tolerance for surveillance. "Many people believe this is justified by greater risks," he said. But, he said, security and privacy can work together. "Good security protects information against unauthorized use, accounting becomes more obviously desirable, and a security system upgrade can be an upgrade for other requirements, like privacy, as well," he said.
Swire called the USA Patriot Act a work in progress. "Imagine an architecture that meets legitimate security needs and also respects privacy. Better data handling often results in both," he said.
He said the homework of federal librarians and information officers is "to get engaged, to study the pros and cons of the new provisions." He called for hearings that look both at new forms of accountability and how to stop potential abuses.
