Patrick Leahy: “last year when I voted to support passage of the Homeland Security Act, HSA, I voiced concerns about several flaws in…”

“last year when I voted to support passage of the Homeland Security Act, HSA, I voiced concerns about several flaws in the legislation. I called for the Administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to monitor implementation of the new law and to craft corrective legislation in the 108th Congress. One of my chief concerns with the HSA was a subtitle of the act that granted an extraordinarily broad exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, in exchange for the cooperation of private companies in sharing information with the government regarding vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, the law that was enacted undermines Federal and State sunshine laws permitting the American people to know what their government is doing. Rather than increasing security by encouraging private sector disclosure to the government, it guts FOIA at the expense of our national security and public health and safety. On March 16, we mark Freedom of Information Day, which falls on the anniversary of James Madison's birthday. Madison said, "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or tragedy or perhaps both." As a long-time supporter of open government, I believe we must heed Madison's warning and revisit the potentially damaging limitations placed on access to information by the HSA.”