USA: Senate bans photo release, requires notice of FOIA changes

Senate bans photo release, requires notice of FOIA changes
<http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=10772>
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

The ACLU's effort to get photos documenting the treatment of detainees in Iraq
and Afghanistan was halted by the Senate on Thursday night, in an amendment to
the appropriations bill.

The Senate also agreed to require new laws that exempt information from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act to specifically reference the
FOIA, making them easier for requesters to spot.

The two changes were part of the supplemental appropriations bill, which the
House already passed. The House and Senate will now reconcile the two versions
of the bill.

The photos amendment, sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I.-Conn.) and
Lindsey Graham (R.-S.C.), creates a process for the Secretary of Defense to
certify to the president that the release of photos and video taken between
Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009, of people captured by U.S. forces outside
the United States would endanger lives. In such cases, the release could be
prohibited for at least three years.

The process would allow President Obama to stop the release of the photos the
American Civil Liberties Union sought with its FOIA suit. A federal district
court and the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan (2nd Circuit) had ordered the
photos released. The Reporters Committee filed a friend-of-the-court brief in
support of the ACLU efforts.

Obama, after initially supporting the release, switched course recently and
opposed it; the Justice Department has been considering an appeal to the
Supreme Court. The new bill eliminates the need for a trip to the Court by
changing the statute that the Second Circuit said required the government to
release the photos.

The other amendment passed by the Senate will require all new statutes that
prohibit the release of records to clearly reference the Freedom of
Information Act.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D.-Vt.) had long been a proponent of such legislation.
Congress frequently attempts to enact legislation exempting specific records
from disclosure under FOIA, but it can be hard to spot the bills or know about
them after they are passed. Often they are buried in larger appropriations or
budget bills.

The change in language will help make the FOIA amendment process more transparent.