From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sun Dec 29 2002 - 13:45:11 MST
On Sunday, December 29, 2002, at 01:52 pm, Dehede011@aol.com wrote:
> So it looks like secret evidence is about an old issue that at least
> with this administration is not a problem. If you have further
> evidence I
> would appreciate hering from you.
> Ron h.
What? Haven't you heard of the "United and Strengthening America by
Providing Apporpirate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act", better known as the "USA Patriot Act"? It was signed
into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. It includes things
like secret property searches, detaining people without charges,
jailing people with secret evidence, roving wiretaps, expanded
monitoring of the internet, access to private medical records, and now
even secret military tribunals." Do a google search on "USA Patriot
Act" for more information.
It's hard to believe that you aren't seeing these things every day in
the news, but here are a few items that came up on the first page of a
google search on "secret evidence". These are current headlines
describing secret evidence being used by the current administration.
Oct. 30, 2002: "The Justice Department on Tuesday defended the use of
secret evidence in its case against an Islamic charity accused of
helping terrorists, arguing that revealing the evidence could
jeopardize the investigation and threaten national security."
<http://216.239.53.100/
search?q=cache:osIFDFEI3P4C:www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/
3011nd1.htm+%22secret+evidence%22+and+terrorism&hl=en&ie=UTF-8>
Aug 25, 2002: "U.S. authorities deported al-Arian's brother-in-law
Mazen al-Najjar, 45, to the Middle East after he had spent more than
four years in custody without criminal charges -- most of that time
based on secret evidence.....never charged with a crime."
April 25, 2002: "Muslim leader jailed on secret evidence"
<http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/haddad0425.php>
Oct. 29, 2002: "The government defended Tuesday its use of secret
evidence against a Muslim charity accused of helping terrorists,
arguing that laying out its case could cause 'grave damage to the
national security.' "
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-
dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A38461-2002Oct29¬Found=true>
Oct 7, 2002: "The FBI testified last year that secret evidence is
being used in 11 cases."
<http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/
ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID=10774&c=98>
June 12, 2002: "The judge's ruling Tuesday was partially based on
secret government evidence that has not been shown to Global Relief's
attorneys. In his decision, Andersen wrote that the evidence is
"relevant to the ongoing investigation and that disclosure to Global
Relief, while the investigation is pending, could undermine this
investigation and others of national interest."
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/911/showcase/chi-
020612globalrelief,0,4936119.story>
May 13, 2002: "After the government froze their assets as part of a
terrorism investigation in December, two Islamic charities fought back
with civil lawsuits attacking the use of secret evidence and arguing
that the freeze was unconstitutional."
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/911/showcase/chi-
020513charities,0,4864786.story>
May 6, 2002: "A federal judge ruled Friday that the government can use
secret evidence in justifying its decision to freeze the assets of a
Bridgeview-based Islamic charity that U.S. prosecutors suspect is
linked to terrorism."
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/911/showcase/chi-
020406global,0,909622.story>
Dec. 9, 2001: "The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals
court for a broad ruling to authorize the use of secret evidence in
cases in which it is trying to detain or deport immigrants it contends
are in the country illegally. For national security reasons, the
government argues that it should share secret evidence with only
immigration judges and not with the immigrants and their lawyers. "
<http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2002/public-service/works/story2.html>
There are many more examples, but you should be able to find them
yourself. Secret Evidence is alive and well in the current
administration.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
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