Here's the lnk to the Declan M. article:

The Senate's Secret Sessions

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), December 12, 1999

Answers

That is Declan writing that?, he must have been eating his wheaties

-- Brian (imager@home.com), December 12, 1999.

Fair use yada yada: The Senate's Secret Sessions
By Declan McCullagh
February 9, 1999

What is it about Y2K that has government officials yearning to keep the public in the dark? At a growing number of hearings, the CIA and a gaggle of skittish senators are refusing to discuss details until everyone else leaves the room. When one senator at a June 24, 1998 hearing asked if nuclear weapons were at risk, CIA Director George Tenet demurred. "We can talk about that in a classified session," he replied.

The same thing happened last Tuesday. Tenet was launching into a windy explanation: "With regard to the Y2K problem, Mr. Chairman, I think a few words are in order. In our judgment foreign countries trail..."

Sen. John Warner interrupted, mid-exposition. "Particularly on the ability of nations now to technologically intercept our systems, whether it's a local bank or indeed the Department of Defense," the Virginia Republican interjected.

"It's a serious issue, Mr. Chairman -- we should talk about in closed session more than in open session," Tenet replied. Before shutting up, though, he did predict "a potential for civil unrest in some countries."

Shortly thereafter, the Senate Armed Services committee formally entered closed session.

When a hearing is closed because of "national security" concerns, legislators remain but the public gets the boot. The hearing usually adjourns for about 10 minutes then resumes after the Capitol police have cleared the room. Committee staffers with approved top-secret code-word security clearances may stay.

This isn't the only time the Defense Department has avoided the Y2K limelight. At a June 4, 1998 hearing of the Senate Armed Services committee (yep, the same one), a top Pentagon official declined to go into detail about Y2K and "cyber-attacks."

"Let me very briefly speak to the issue of cyber- defense, and then I'd like to turn to General Minihan to have him amplify on this. And may I also say I think we are going to be somewhat limited into what we can say in an open session. We would welcome a chance to either come back another time or maybe later this morning in a closed session to talk in greater detail about this," said John Hamre, deputy secretary of defense. Sitting next to him at the witness table was Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minihan, the head of the National Security Agency.

It was Minihan's agency that last May classified a Defense Department Y2K database as "highly sensitive," prompting the military to yank it from the Internet.

Even though John Koskinen, assistant to the president, said as recently as last month that "our strategy is based on the premise that the public has great common sense and will respond appropriately when they have the necessary information," the Clinton administration and Congress have taken steps in the opposite direction. A bill that Clinton signed last fall was widely touted by the White House and a bipartisan group of legislators as a way to limit inappropriate Y2K liability. But a key provision bars the public from attending meetings of the Y2K council and its subcommittees. The Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act says the federal open-meeting act "shall not apply to the working groups established under this section."

A grand conspiracy? Nah. Part of the allure of secret briefings is simply that they make the recipients feel important. A number of people who have participated in classified hearings on non-Y2K topics tell us the information is similar to what's discussed in public, just more detailed. Still, we can't help but wonder...
End snip.............. Declan has apparently changed his hat again. This could almost be called investigative journalism. So where's he been since July 1998? Too bad it's too little too late.

-- semper paratus (always@ready.uscg), December 12, 1999.