Janice Schakowsky: “we are told over and over again as we create this Department of Homeland Security that we are at war, that these are…”

“we are told over and over again as we create this Department of Homeland Security that we are at war, that these are very special times. And clearly we need to know about infrastructure vulnerabilities. There is no question about it. Such information is essential. Well, I wonder if it occurred to the majority that one way to get that information might be to require it. For an issue as critical as national security, it is striking that the administration is apparently unwilling to require companies to submit information on vulnerabilities, but instead willing only to rely on coaxing it from them voluntarily by relaxing the disclosure law that is a cornerstone of open government. Now, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis) purported to give an example how information regarded as confidential by a company was released as an example of why we have to have this. But, instead, actually what he told us was how a company refused to give the information because they did not trust the government. Again, over and over what we are told here is not that the Freedom of Information Act as currently written really does not have enough exemptions but that the lawyers for private corporations do not trust it.”