NATIONAL SECURITY SECRECY PANEL

Recent news stories, from NSA surveillance of financial transactions of suspected terrorist (NY Times), to foreign governments' cooperation in CIA "extraordinary renditions" (Washington Post), raise the question: When is the press justified in outing of a national security secret? Only when government conduct is clearly illegal and disclosure causes no harm to legitimate sources and methods? This panel discussed the Justice Department's reliance on "state secret's" privilege, the propriety of "data-mining" by intelligence agencies to identify surveillance targets, government access to reporters' phone records, and whether FISA sets the outer limits of the President's authority to order eavesdropping on U.S. citizens in contact with suspected terrorists. Have 9/11 and the imperative of preventing further terror attacks permanently altered the traditional balance between national security and civil liberties? Our panelists, appearing at CFAC's Free Speech and Open Government Assembly at the Journalism School at UC Berkeley, represent all points of view:

Part I

Part II

Part III

PANELISTS
Daniel Ellsberg, In 1971 Ellsberg was thrown into the national spotlight after he leaked "The Pentagon Papers"--a multi-volume top secret study detailing U.S. decision -making in Vietnam from 1945-1968. His trial, on twelve felony counts including alleged violation of federal espionage laws, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon. Since the end of the Vietnam War he has been a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era and unlawful interventions.
Robert Deitz, was the General Counsel to NSA from 1998, in the last years of the Clinton administration, until September 2006, when he became Senior Councilor to the Director of CIA, Gen Michael Hayden. While serving as NSA's chief lawyer, Deitz was also acting Deputy General Council, Intelligence, at the Defense Department in 2003 and 2004.
John C. Sims, professor of national security law at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of law, and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy.
LeeTien, is staff attorney for the Electronic Frontiers Foundation and represents plaintiffs in a suit against AT&T for alleged cooperation with NSA surveillance programs.
Roger Myers, is a partner in the San Francisco office of Holme, Roberts, & Owen. Myers’ practice focuses on media, internet, intellectual property, and unfair competition law. He is the recipient of International Human Rights Award from the American Bar Association in 2005 and the James Madison Freedom of Information Award, presented by the Society of Professional Journalists, in 1998. Myers is general counsel to CFAC. 

MODERATOR
Peter Scheer, a lawyer and journalist, is the executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition.