Friday, 21 August 1987 Washington, DC
1.
THE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT,
which
must be signed by persons with security clearances, represents
the latest attempt by the Administration to blur the lines of
national security information. The first section of Standard
Form 189 states that, "As used in this Agreement, classified
information is information that is either classified or
classifiable under the standards of Executive Order 12356, or any
other executive order or statute that prohibits the unauthorized
disclosure of information in the interests of national
security." Irate members of Congress, led by feisty Rep. Jack
Brooks (D-TX), complain that "classifiable" could mean almost
anything. The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO),
which drafted the nondisclosure agreement, sought to calm its
critics by issuing a definition of "classifiable information" as
information "which, as a result of negligence, time constraints,
error, lack of opportunity or oversight, has not been marked as
classified." ISOO declares that one of its major functions is to
respond to complaints concerning the administration of the
information security system. This office, however, decided to
conduct a study to determine how many persons holding security
clearances are even aware of the existence of ISOO. 33% never
heard of ISOO, 33% thought it dealt with Eskimo problems, and the
other one of those polled declined to answer on the grounds that
it might be classifiable.
The dispute over "classifiable information" is reminiscent
of the attempt by John Poindexter to place controls on "sensitive
but unclassified information" (WN 14 Nov 86). Indeed, one of the
concerns raised by SF 189 is that attitudes in the National
Security Council have not really changed under Frank Carlucci.
2
. HOUSE MEMBERS ARE CHANGING THE POLITICAL RESONANCE OF THE SSC.
The bill to authorize appropriations for the supercollider
(H.R. 3228) would restore the funds requested by DOE after
President Reagan approved building the machine
(WN 30 Jan 87).
That totals $35M in FY 88, which begins on 1 Oct. Of that amount
$25M is for continued R&D, and another $10M for construction
components requiring long lead time. The research subcommittee
of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee had proposed
eliminating the $10M construction money and suggested language
that would withhold Congress's authority to go ahead. The new
bill (WN 14 Aug 87) would give
the full amount and "such sums as
may be necessary for FY 89 and subsequent years." Meanwhile,
committee chairman Robert Roe (D-NJ) asked Ralph Hall (D-TX),
chairman of the committee's international panel, to lead a group
to CERN and DESY, as well as to European ministries, to explore
sharing SSC construction costs. Besides Hall, the group consists
of the committee's senior Republican, Manuel Lujan (NM) and James
Scheuer (D-NY), Tim Valentine (D-NC), Jim Chapman (D-TX) and Ron
Packard (R-CA). They leave 23 Aug and return 1 Sep.
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