A Judge Finds Administration's Secrecy 'Baffling'

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. is clearly unhappy with the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy -- which includes barring the judge's law clerk from seeing classified documents as part of an ongoing case.

Kennedy is the presiding judge in a lawsuit filed in Washington by three advocacy groups seeking documents related to the now-defunct warrantless wiretapping program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on communications between the United States and overseas.

In a ruling this week, Kennedy agreed that some material could be withheld but signaled that other documents might be released. "While the court is certainly sensitive to the government's need to protect classified information and its deliberative processes, essentially declaring 'because we say so' is an inadequate method" for refusing to release records, he wrote.

In a footnote, he also decried the government's refusal to share information with his own office:

"In part for purposes of this case, this judicial officer had his law clerk cleared through an extensive, high-level background investigation so that the clerk would have access to classified information, and specifically to the documents lodged in this case. Notwithstanding the clearance obtained, it has become apparent that the Executive will not grant the clerk access to the classified declarations filed here, at least not in the absence of vociferous resistance from this judicial officer. This stance is baffling and has been significantly disruptive to the court's review of this matter."

Kennedy has ordered the government to respond by Oct. 12.

-- Dan Eggen