Is it the “Abu Ghraib Protection Act?”

Washington, D.C., October 6, 2005 - After failing in 2000, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is again seeking an exception from disclosure of vast quantities of important Defense Department records currently available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The exception would render records that document "the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence operations" of the DIA Directorate of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) unreachable to the public.

The provision currently is included in the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1042) and the Intelligence Authorization Bill (S. 1803). The provision would allow the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to place the DIA's "operational files" completely outside the purview of the FOIA. "The DIA tried this before and failed because it would protect records about death squads. Now it looks like the DIA wants to cover up records about Abu Ghraib," commented the Archive's director Thomas Blanton.