--- Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:59:35 -0400 To: declanat_private From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenbergat_private> Subject: EPIC Letter to Senate on Homeland Security budget Cc: Mihir Kshirsagar <mihirat_private> Declan - We sent the following letter today to Senators Byrd and Stevens regarding the hearings over the next two days on the budget for "homeland security." Further information regarding the Office of Homeland Security, as well as a copy of our complaint filed in District Court, may be found at http://www.epic.org/open_gov/homeland/ Regards, Marc Rotenberg EPIC April 9, 2002 Senator Robert C. Byrd Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee 311 Hart Building Washington, D.C. 20510-4801 Fax: (202) 228-0002 Senator Ted Stevens Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Committee 522 Hart Building Washington, D.C. 20510-0201 Fax: (202) 224-2354 Re: Statement for Hearings on Homeland Security Budget Dear Senators Byrd and Stevens, We write to express our support for your hearings on the President's homeland security budget and our hope that the public will have the opportunity to hear testimony from the Office of Homeland Security in the near future. The OHS may soon be responsible for directing a 38 billion dollar budget. We share your concern that the significant new powers allocated to the OHS require meaningful public oversight. Congressional oversight of the OHS goes hand in hand with the opportunity for public oversight through the Freedom of Information Act. On March 20, 2002 the Electronic Privacy Information Center submitted a FOIA request to the OHS requesting records concerning the agency's efforts to develop a system of National identification. We submitted this request because of the significant implications for privacy and civil liberties in America if such a system were deployed, and because we believe that the OHS should be subject to the same open record laws that govern other federal agencies that engage in substantial policymaking. Despite a statutory obligation to render a decision on an expedited request within 10 days, the OHS has not responded to EPIC's request. As a result, EPIC filed suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia seeking the disclosure of these records (EPIC v. OHS, Civil Action No. 06-0260). It is imperative that the OHS comply with the Freedom of Information Act, a law that helps ensure the preservation of open government and the protection of the constitutional values of the United States. We request that this letter and attached complaint be placed in the hearing record. Sincerely yours, Marc Rotenberg Executive Director ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign this pro-therapeutic cloning petition: http://www.franklinsociety.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 12 2002 - 10:59:56 PDT