SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2004, Issue No. 100
November 14, 2004

THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW

Last month, Helen Chenoweth-Hage attempted to board a United Airlines
flight from Boise to Reno when she was pulled aside by airline
personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for
weapons or unauthorized materials.

Chenoweth-Hage, an ultra-conservative former Congresswoman (R-ID),
requested a copy of the regulation that authorizes such pat-downs.

"She said she wanted to see the regulation that required the
additional procedure for secondary screening and she was told that she
couldn't see it," local TSA security director Julian Gonzales told the
Idaho Statesman (10/10/04).

"She refused to go through additional screening [without seeing the
regulation], and she was not allowed to fly," he said. "It's pretty
simple."

Chenoweth-Hage wasn't seeking disclosure of the internal criteria used
for screening passengers, only the legal authorization for passenger
pat-downs. Why couldn't they at least let her see that? asked
Statesman commentator Dan Popkey.

"Because we don't have to," Mr. Gonzales replied crisply.

"That is called 'sensitive security information.' She's not allowed to
see it, nor is anyone else," he said.

Thus, in a qualitatively new development in U.S. governance, Americans
can now be obligated to comply with legally-binding regulations that
are unknown to them, and that indeed they are forbidden to know.

This is not some dismal Eastern European allegory. It is part of a
continuing transformation of American government that is leaving it
less open, less accountable and less susceptible to rational
deliberation as a vehicle for change.

(snip / snip)

Full article at - http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2004/11/111404.html

Cheers, Steve..

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