Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have introduced the Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act. The bill would “establish a procedure to block release of the detainee photos,” according to a press release.
These photos are the “subject of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.”
More specific provisions in the bill from the release:
- would authorize the Secretary of Defense, after consultation with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to certify to the President that the disclosure of photographs like the ones at issue in the ACLU lawsuit would endanger the lives of our citizens or members of the Armed Forces or civilian employees of the United States government deployed abroad
- certification would last five years and could be renewed by the Secretary of Defense if the threat to American personnel continues
- language in the bill is clear that it would apply to the current ACLU lawsuit
This measure will be offered as an amendment to the Iraq / Afghanistan War Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 2346).
Update (5/21): This measure has been added and adopted as an amendment to the supplemental.
Update (6/8): It appears that the House plans to block this amendment from being included in the final supplemental conference report.
Update (6/17): This bill has been adopted by unanimous consent.
Congress in Your Pocket
