Fwd: ZGram - 3/9/2004 - "The Secrets Just Got Deeper"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

>
>
>
>Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!
>
>  March 9, 2003
>
>  Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
>
>This Zgram follows on the heels of what I told you yesterday about 
>CSIS's involvement in the kidnapping of Ernst Zundel on American 
>soil with the help of US government agents unwittingly (?) acting as 
>hit squads.
>
>In the Globe and Mail article below, you will see that a month after 
>Ernst's arrest, the government of Canada became inordinately worried 
>about potential leaks from CSIS operations and took elaborate 
>precautions to plug all holes - an effort that is still going on.
>
>  Here goes:
>
>  [START]
>
>  THE SECRETS JUST GOT DEEPER  
>
>  GLOBE AND MAIL / March 8, 2004
>
>  Ottawa - Thousands of Canadians involved in the hunt for terrorists 
>and  spies will be forbidden from ever discussing sensitive aspects 
>of their  work under a new federal secrecy law. 
>
>  =====
>
>  The government expects between 5,000  and 6,000 current and former 
>security and intelligence officials to be  designated as persons 
>"permanently bound to secrecy," internal memos  obtained by The 
>Canadian Press reveal. The move to make officials take  secrets to 
>the grave is being ushered in under provisions of the Security  of 
>Information Act, part of a package of anti-terrorism measures passed 
>after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.  
>
>   The security act,  which contains a wide range of tools to 
>safeguard federal information, was  recently invoked by the RCMP to 
>search the home of Ottawa Citizen reporter  Juliet O'Neill. But 
>little attention has been given to other elements of  the law that 
>demand permanent secrecy with the aim of shielding "special 
>operational information" about covert intelligence gathering and 
>military  battle plans.  
>
>   The Canadian Security Intelligence Service will store the  names 
>and related records of those sworn to silence in a database. 
>Compilation of the list, which is ongoing, began last March, 
>according to  memos and briefing notes released through the Access 
>to Information Act.  
>
>   Under the Security of Information Act, people automatically bound 
>to  secrecy include current or former members of CSIS, certain 
>sensitive RCMP  departments and intelligence watchdog agencies. It 
>also covers members of  the Communications Security Establishment - 
>the government's electronic spy  agency - as well as former 
>employees of the Communications Branch of the  National Research 
>Council (the forerunner of CSE, defunct since 1975) and  the RCMP 
>Security Service (disbanded in 1984).     Other individuals, 
>including  federal public servants at various agencies, provincial 
>and municipal  employees, and temporary contractors, will be bound 
>to secrecy on a  case-by-case basis. "Special care must be taken to 
>ensure that the  designation is warranted because of the permanent 
>nature of the  designation," says one briefing memo.  
>
>   Federal officials in charge of  hand-picking these individuals 
>"have only recently started the process,"  said Mario Baril, a 
>spokesman for the Treasury Board Secretariat, which is 
>administering the secrecy initiative.  
>
>   Among the types of "special  operational information" people 
>formally bound to secrecy cannot discuss  are:
>
>     -   Past or current sources of confidential data.  
>
>   - Names of spies  involved in secret intelligence collection. 
>
>    - Plans for armed military operations.  
>
>   - Places, persons or groups who were - or are intended to be - 
>targets of covert intelligence efforts by Canadian spy services.  
>
>   A person  bound to secrecy who reveals such information "without 
>authority" could  face up to 14 years in prison.  
>
>   It is unclear how one might obtain authority  to disclose a 
>secret, though one insider has suggested persons sworn to  silence 
>could discuss sensitive matters once they are declassified. Still, 
>intelligence experts question whether it is sensible, or even 
>possible, to  maintain a broad permanent veil of secrecy.  
>
>   "It fails to reflect the  reality that, while there are categories 
>of information which are important  to safeguard, secrets don't stay 
>secrets permanently," said Wesley Wark, a  University of Toronto 
>history professor. The new secrecy regime is  "Draconian and 
>nonsensical," and could prove to be a bureaucratic  nightmare, Prof. 
>Wark said.
>
>     Reid Morden, a former head of CSIS, said the  provisions could 
>conflict with other legal measures, such as  access-to-information 
>laws, intended to increase government transparency.  
>
>    "I don't know whether people will be able to make this 
>[prohibition] stick  in terms of 'until the grave.' " In 2002, 
>federal officials recommended the  new law be interpreted narrowly 
>to include only certain key kinds of  information, thereby limiting 
>the number of people covered by the secrecy  clauses.  
>
>   "Nevertheless, approximately five to six thousand people are 
>currently targeted by the legislation," says a 2003 memo prepared by 
>the  Treasury Board Secretariat. The secrecy provisions were among 
>several  elements of the 2001 anti-terrorism bill intended to 
>modernize the  decades-old Official Secrets Act.  
>
>   A CSIS background paper on the revamped  security law says the 
>provisions clarify the rules on what spies can  divulge. "For 
>current and former employees in the security and intelligence 
>community, there is now a much clearer statement of their 
>responsibilities  to safeguard sensitive information - and a much 
>clearer statement of their  potential criminal liability should such 
>sensitive information be disclosed  without authorization."  
>
>   Prof. Wark fears the law could dampen informed  public debate 
>about the government's security and intelligence powers, and  hinder 
>efforts to examine the secret operations of previous decades. "To 
>bury the historical record in this way, I think, is abusive of power 
>and is  very shortsighted in terms of failing to understand that 
>there is a value  to be had in trying to learn lessons from the 
>past," he said.  
>
>   The RCMP used  the Security of Information Act to obtain judicial 
>warrants to search Ms.  O'Neill's home and newspaper office in 
>January for clues about leaks in the  case of Maher Arar. The 
>33-year-old Ottawa man was detained by U.S.  officials on suspicions 
>of terrorism during a September 2002 stopover in  New York as he 
>returned from vacation in the Middle East, and deported him  to 
>Syria, where he was imprisoned for several months.  
>
>   Mr. Arar, who says he  was tortured while in Syrian custody, 
>denies being involved in terrorism. A  Nov.8 article by Ms. O'Neill 
>cited "a security source" and a leaked  document offering details of 
>what Mr. Arar allegedly told Syrian  intelligence officials while 
>imprisoned. Because the source of her story  remains a mystery, it 
>is unclear whether the person was "permanently bound  to secrecy" 
>under the law.
>
>  [END]
>
>  =====
>
>   Reminder:  
>
>  Help free Ernst Zundel, Prisoner of Conscience.  His prison 
>sketches - now on-line and highly popular - help pay for his 
>defence.  Take a look - and tell a friend.
>
>  http://www.zundelsite.org/gallery/donations/index.html