EPIC, Coalition Ask Congress to Block CIA Proposal to Limit Agency Accountability

EPIC and a coalition of government transparency advocates have urged Senate and House leaders to remove a proposed change to the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 that would dramatically expand the crime of disclosing the identity of intelligence agents. The CIA has been lobbying Congress to modify the Intelligence Identities Protection Act's penalties, which could be applied to whistleblowers, public interest organizations, and journalists who try to expose mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in the intelligence community. The letter from open government advocates also warned that the amendment could obstruct congressional oversight, weaken government accountability, limit public access to information, and chill journalists and public interest organizations.